R & M Paranormal Investigations
by seraphydragon
Summary: Minako's looking for a change. Rei wants her office space back. These are the case files from the R&M Investigation Team! Eventual ReixMinako.
1. Case 0: Exorcist

**A/N:** So I've had this on my computer for a little while. It's a little idea I have, so it would be great if people could let me know what they think. For people who are reading my other story, 'Change!' I hope to have chapter 7 up soon. Thanks!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sailor Moon.

* * *

It was shortly past midnight when the young woman returned to her apartment. After closing the door behind her, she let out a heavy sigh and basked in the silence that greeted her. Once her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, she removed her footwear and tip-toed around the piles of paper strewn across the floor to the living room. Around the corner to her immediate left was a couch. She unceremoniously dropped her bag on it and, for a moment, she considered pushing some of the materials aside to make room for herself until something from the corner of her eye caught her attention. The girl approached the terrace windows.

Beyond the glass, the city lights shone brightly. Minako Aino brought her hand up to the glass and quietly studied her reflection. It took several minutes before her brain could process what she was seeing. Tired, blue eyes stared back at her; despite all of the make-up she piled on that morning, it still hadn't been enough to hide the bags forming under her eyes or her usually pale complexion. Now that she thought about it, had she also lost weight? Biting her bottom lip, Minako went back to the couch and withdrew a magazine from her bag. She flipped it open to a book-marked page and skimmed the article beneath her picture. She read it again and again, and only stopped when she felt her stomach do a sudden lurch. She bolted to the bathroom and quickly felt herself lose what little dinner she had managed to force down earlier that evening.

_Damn it all!_ _Not again! _

Minako gagged as she felt the start of another dry heave. She clenched her hands into fists by her side in an attempt to stifle her gasps. When the sensations had passed her eyes were left burning with tears.

_I can't…do this anymore! I just can't!_

In that instant all of the noise in her head stopped. The clock hanging outside in the kitchen continued to tick loudly as the seconds passed…

**3 months later**

* * *

In a growing urban center out by the country-side, the city folk were enjoying a beautiful summer day. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the sun worshippers were out in the parks in droves to take advantage of the nice weather. A certain blonde was no exception. Off to the side of a park path, Minako laid low in a clump of bushes with a pair of binoculars clapsed firmly in her hands. Atop of her head was cowboy hat, held in place by a loose, thin strap. She was also sporting a pair of sunglasses, an orange patterned bikini-top, and denim short-shorts, which she was beginning to regret now that she was lying in dirt.

Minako raised the binoculars up at her surroundings. She looked at the tree tops for about a minute before she began to survey the people in the nearby vicinity.

_Oh. My. God. That girl's swimsuit is soooooo cute! I totally got to ask her where she got it from. And oh. Oooh, look at that stud beside her. Like wow! …Wait, no! Birds! I'm supposed to be looking for birds!_ Minako mentally slapped herself for the umpteenth time in the past ten minutes. Honestly, it wasn't her fault that she was so distracted. She wouldn't be having such a difficult time if the birds were in the trees like they were supposed to be. This brought Minako back to her current dilemma. Seriously, what weirdo thought bird-watching was a relaxing hobby? She was already bored out of her mind. In fact, Minako swore that if she didn't see a bird soon, she would-

In that instant a brown-speckled flyer swooped past her line of vision.

"There!" Minako gasped. She leapt to her feet and chased after it. She zigged and zagged around the sun tanners and joggers and followed it into a secluded, vegetated area where she immediately lost sight of it.

"Drats! Where did it go?" She whispered under her breath. She heard a high-pitched trill and whirled around to find the bird preening itself on one of the higher branches. "There you are." She said as a smile crept across her face. "Now be a good little birdy and hold still..."

Minako was poised to take the photo when the sound of the adjusting camera lens caused its tiny head to perk up.

"Wait! Hold on!" Minako was startled when the feathery-fiend abruptly dive-bombed towards the camera in shrieks of protest. The girl yelped and hurriedly tried to backtrack but the heel of her foot struck a protruding tree root. She barely had time to register what was happening when she was sent rolling backwards and straight into one of the park's artificial ponds. Everyone in the near vicinity paused for a moment when they heard a soft splash followed by a loud shriek.

After changing clothes and gathering what little dignity she had left, Minako made her way downtown.

"Okay…That was a definite **no** for bird-watching." The blonde muttered as she crossed 'bird-watching' off of her list. Her list was split into two columns: one side listed the activity whereas the other provided some space for comments. Currently crossed off from the list included painting (too boring), sky-diving (chickened out), yoga (pulled a muscle), and now bird-watching (technical difficulties).

Minako was snapped out of her thoughts when she realized that she had reached her destination. For a moment she considered turning around and going right back the way she came from, but deep down inside she knew that she would only be delaying the inevitable. With that, Minako entered the café and slipped into one of the booths in the back corner. It wasn't long before a familiar, white-haired waiter appeared.

"Hey, look who's back." Artemis remarked. "I was wondering when you would show up. You're late you know," he pointed to his watch. "By say…oh, forty-five minutes."

Minako resisted the urge to punch his lights out and instead concentrated on putting on the sweetest smile she could muster.

"You know what? I'll have the usual if you don't mind."

The order seemed to stun him for a second. "Oh right, of course. Your wish is my command."

After pouring Minako a cup of chai latte, the young man slipped into the seat opposite to her.

"Right. So how'd it go?"

"How'd what go?"

"You know… the bird-watching? You said you were going to give it a shot today, remember?"

Minako feigned a thoughtful look. Okay, so maybe an hour ago she told him that she was going to go bird-watching. And Artemis might have laughed and said it was a plan doomed to failure because she had a five-minute attention span. And there miiiiiight have been a bet involved where loser had to pay for milk shakes. She peeked up from her drink. Judging by the look on his face, if he were a cat he would be purring pretty loudly right about now.

"Oh. Did I?" She innocently took a sip from her drink.

"That bad, huh?"

"Technical difficulties." She grumbled under her breath.

"Huh? What was that?"

"Nothing!" Minako shifted in her seat to sit a little straighter. "Artemis, I am proud to say that after some careful consideration, I decided that bird-watching wasn't my thing either."

"…You got bored, didn't you?"

"No." She answered automatically. Artemis arched an eyebrow. "Okay, okay, at some point I might've gotten…" she took a deep breath, "bored-"

"Hah! I knew it!"

"-BUT, that wasn't why I crossed it off my list."

"Yeah, _sure_ it wasn't."

"It wasn't! I would've won but it was all that stupid bird's fault!"

Minako internally cringed the moment the words left her mouth.

"Uh…wait, what? Bird? What bird?" He noticed her changed attire again and his eyes suddenly lit up. "Oh…Hold on. Are you saying that a bird took a dump on you and that's why you had to…?"

"NO!" Minako nearly shrieked. "Oh my God, Artemis!" She couldn't help but cover her face in embarrassment while he burst out into laughter. "You know what, forget I said anything. You win, fair and square. C'mon, I'll buy you that milkshake now."

"Huh? H-Hey, hold on a sec! I'm still on shift so there's no way I can leave right now. But more importantly…are you really going to leave me hanging, Mina? You promised you'd tell me how everything goes, remember?"

"Yeah, but this is kind of…"

"C'mon. Aside from being pooped on, how bad can it really be?"

She looked into his big, blue, puppy dog eyes and sighed. "Look, if I tell you, you can't laugh, okay?"

"Okay."

"I mean it Artemis..."

"Waiter's honor." He assured her.

Despite her better judgement, Minako spilled the beans. Needless to say she instantly regretted it. Artemis was now doubled over the table and was shaking with stifled laughter. Yup, he definitely wasn't going to let her live this down.

"Hahahaha! Seriously? Seriously, Mina? You fell into the pond?! Wow…I wish I could've been there to see it!"

Minako glared at him. Her cheeks were tinged pink from humiliation.

"You're such a jerk! You said you wouldn't laugh!"

"I-I know…I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to, but-" He stopped long enough to take a few deep breaths and whipped the tears from his eyes. "Before you left, you said it was going to be a piece of cake, remember? I guess it wasn't so easy after all."

"It just took me by surprise, okay?" She huffed. "Anyway, can we please drop it now?"

"Sure. For now…" Before Minako could become violent he quickly said, "So, what's next on the list?"

The girl brightened at the change in topic.

"Photography."

Artemis looked thoughtful. "Photography, hm? That doesn't sound so bad."

"I know, right? It was a good thing that the camera wasn't damaged when…well you know." She coughed, and he chuckled in agreement.

"So what kind of pictures are you going to take?"

"Hmm…To be honest, I haven't really decided yet. Maybe some buildings or some scenery, maybe? What do you think? Any suggestions?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. Why not just take a few and see if anything catches your eye? Worst comes to worst, you can always try something else, right?"

"That's true…"

He checked his watch.

"Gotta go?" she asked, as he stood up.

"Yeah, sorry…The boss got on my case last time so I don't want to go pushing my luck. Anyway-"

Whatever he was about to say next was cut off when the lights in the café rapidly began to flicker and then abruptly cut out.

"Oh shoot, not again…" he muttered.

"Is it another blackout?"

"Yeah, looks like it. Hopefully it won't last too long this time. We had a lot of food go to waste the last time it happened."

"When was that, again? You said it was two days ago, right?"

"Right. The boss was really pissed."

"I bet."

"Mm…" He nodded.

"I wouldn't worry about it." She said, catching his attention. "It's not like he can blame you for it, right? I mean, it's not like it's your fault that these black outs are happening."

"It's not that, but I appreciate the concern. It's just…don't you think it's kinda strange that they haven't fixed the problem yet?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's more complicated than they thought it'd be and it's taking more time."

"But it's been over a week now." He glanced around to make sure that no one else was listening before he leaned in close. "You know what? It could just be me, but between you and me, I think they're getting worse."

"Worse? What do you mean by that?"

"Like, they're happening more frequently these days. And they seem to be getting longer too. I don't know. I just don't have a good feeling about it. I mean, doesn't it seem even a little strange to you? I also heard on the news that it's affecting other parts of the city now too."

"Really?" Minako tried to imagine it. From the way he described it, it almost sounded like an infectious disease.

"Yeah. I'm guessing you guys haven't experienced it on your end of town yet?"

"Not that I know of."

"Huh. Well, hopefully they'll fix it soon so you don't have to. Anyway, I gotta go. The boss is calling. I'll see you later?"

"Yeah, for sure. Laters." She waved and watched him disappear behind the door to the kitchen. As Minako got up from her seat she placed money down on the table to cover her tab.

_A bunch of black-outs, huh? Well, that's sure inconvenient._

The lights above flickered once again and came back on.

**Downtown**

* * *

After leaving the café Minako diligently began her new hobby. As she strolled down the streets, she aimed her lens and started snapping away. Buildings, crowded intersections, happy couples dining in outdoor establishments, she was running through film fast but she felt little satisfaction. The photos were lacking _something_. As to what though, she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

As she continued her search for the perfect photograph her thoughts began to wander back to her previous conversation with Artemis.

_Poor Artemis... He seemed kind of upset earlier. I guess it makes sense considering his job but it's not like it's his fault. _

Minako aimed her camera and snapped another photograph. She didn't want to say it to her childhood friend, but wasn't he overreacting a little? The blackouts were probably due to a power outage, or a storm or something, right? Except she couldn't remember the last time they had a storm so it probably wasn't the latter, but still…Minako rolled his words through her mind again. Truthfully, she hadn't been keeping up with the news so this was all news to her. But if what Artemis said was true then she had to admit that it did sound a little strange. What _if_ there was something more to it?

Minako aimed her camera lens again and this time it landed on a lone newspaper stand. She paused in wonder. The small voice of reason in the back of her head was advising her to leave this one alone. She had come all the way out here to find herself a relaxing hobby and _relax, _after all. Despite this though, she was beginning to have second thoughts. Since she arrived, when did she ever feel like she was enjoying herself? Relaxing was quickly becoming the new word for boring. Now _investigation _on the other hand, it had a cool, mysterious air to it. _Investigative reporter_ – the words popped into her mind. Slowly, her lips curled up into a mischievous smile. Who said anything about abandoning photography for snooping? Who said she couldn't do both? She was a woman after all, she could multi-task.

_Investigative reporter, Minako Aino, at your service! _

She liked the sound of that. She could almost see the headlines now: 'Mysterious Blackouts!', 'A City Overcome by Days of Darkness!'. A little giddy at her own imagination, she finally gave into her curiosity and strolled over to the stand. Either way, investigating this case wouldn't be a waste of her time. In the worst case scenario, there would be nothing out of the ordinary and she could put Artemis's mind to ease.

Minako scanned the newspapers on display and was surprised to see something about the power outrages on almost every cover. How did she not hear about this?

Her gaze fell onto a single word within a column of text and it sent a shiver down her spine.

"…_**Monster…"**_

"Can I help you, miss?" The man running the stand asked.

Minako shook her head. "Ah, no thank you. I was just looking."

"Are you sure I can't interest you in something? You know, a beautiful girl like you might be interested in something a little more…erm, cheerful. We carry fashion magazines and the like as well, you know," he gestured to another side of the stand.

"Oh. Yes, I see. Well, that's very interesting and all but maybe another time perhaps?"

Minako left the stand and decided that it may be wiser to tap into a more reliable information source. She made a beeline towards the nearest internet café and quickly found herself a comfortable seat. The blonde briefly considered ordering something to avoid being asked to leave, but there was likely no point as she would be in and out within the next fifteen minutes. Or so she had thought. Several hours and two drinks later, she was still engrossed in her research. But now, her interest was seriously piqued.

_**Power Corp Official Update**_

_Yesterday, Power Corp Inc. held a press conference at Power Corp's headquarters to present an update to the city's growing blackout problem. Their spokesperson, Mia Nakajima had this to say: "We at Power Corp are taking the matter very seriously. As of now, we have technicians working around the clock to determine the cause of these recent blackouts… On behalf of the Power Corp I would like to sincerely apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused and would like to thank everyone for their patience…"_

_**Aging Infrastructure to Blame!**_

…_Recent reports from Power Corp have confirmed that the source of the blackouts is due to __technical difficulties__ caused by __aging infrastructure__. More to come on this soon…_

_**Blackouts a Growing Problem**_

…_Despite assurances by Power Corp that the blackout situation will be resolved soon, Tanaka-san, the owner of a local meat shop, has joined the growing group of disgruntled food retailers. "This is simply unacceptable! __Two times a day__! Do you know how much business we're losing?! They (Power Corp) keep saying that they would fix this, but how much longer do we have to wait?" Tanaka-san is one of the many food retailers considering a class-action law suit against the company…_

_**Blackout Controversy?**_

…_Although city officials are promising a speedy solution to the blackouts that have plagued the city as of late, one employee, who wished to remain anonymous, tells a different story. "Yeah, sure. That's if they can get anyone to go down __there__. You sure as hell __couldn't pay me enough__ to do that". When asked why he had such reservations, the employee replied, "I am telling you, there's __something__ down there." He declined to give further comment._

Minako re-read the underlined words in her notepad and threw up her arms up in exasperation.

_Argh! But WHAT? What is down there and where is this place anyway?_

She had gone through dozens of articles but none of them elaborated on this tiny tidbit. Everyone seemed to be concentrating either on people's reactions to the blackouts or on the company's official statement releases. Minako rubbed her eyes, suddenly feeling tired and wishing that she hadn't stared at the computer screen for so long.

Minako powered down her laptop and slipped it back into her bag. As far as she was concerned, this case was far from over. When the information trail runs scarce there was only one thing left to do and that was to go to the source.

**Power Corp Headquarters**

* * *

Minako shortly found herself standing outside of Power Corp Headquarters. Needless to say, she was momentarily taken aback by how the building towered over everything else in the vicinity.

_Wow, it's so big. I can't believe I actually came here. Wait, c'mon Minako! Pull yourself together. You're not backing out now, not after coming all this way! _She gulped. Really, what was the worst that could happen?

The blonde stepped into a fancy looking lobby and spotted an information desk to the far left side. The woman at the desk looked up as she approached.

"Hi," Minako said a little nervously. "I'm covering a news story on the blackouts. I was wondering if there was someone that I could maybe talk to?"

"Which company are you from?"

"Um…Well…" Minako wracked her brains for an answer. "I'm a freelance reporter." She blurted out.

The woman studied her with an inquisitive look. Minako hands started to feel clammy. Could she really pull this off? Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. Maybe she should back out now while she still had a chan-

"I see." The woman finally said. "You'll want to speak with media relations then. They're on the 20th floor. You can get there by using the left elevator, which is just over there." She gestured.

"Great! Thank you very much!"

"You're welcome…" she said in a bored, monotone voice and went back to typing on her computer.

Minako crossed the lobby and stepped into the elevator. Her heart was pounding so hard that she swore it was going to burst from her chest any second.

_Thank God! _She almost melted into a puddle of relief right then and there. She then remembered that she needed to press a button. _Now which floor did she say it was again? Was that the 20th or 21st? Hmm…Well, it shouldn't be that big a deal. If I get lost I can always ask for directions again, right?_

She pressed the 21st button and the elevator doors closed. When the doors opened again she found herself staring into a long, carpeted hallway.

_Now let's see…Maybe media relations is that way?_

She wandered around the tightly knit cubicles until she came across a large office. She walked several steps past it when she heard someone say,

"The blackouts? Yes sir, we're working on it this very moment, sir!"

Minako halted in her footsteps and did a quick backtrack. Did she hear what she thought she heard? She knelt down beside the door and was delighted to find that it was open a crack.

"Yes sir. Uh huh…uh huh…yes, I understand. Goodbye sir."

The man sitting at the desk hung up the phone. His office was enormous and the suit he wore looked to be very expensive. Was he a high ranking manager in the company? Minako wondered if she could squeeze some information out of him. She swallowed. She had guts, but this would be something else entirely if she was busted. She inched towards the doorway to get a better view when his angry expression suddenly turned her way.

"Did you hear that?" He hit the desk. "You gave me your word that you would resolve this incident, so what's taking so long?!"

Minako held her breath. She realized that he wasn't taking to her but to another person in the room. She couldn't make them out so she supposed that whoever he was talking to was standing somewhere close to the wall.

"There's no need to worry."

Minako gasped when she heard the voice.

_It's a she?!_

"You have my word that the matter will be resolved by the end of today."

The man seemed to calm down at the news. "It better be…I'm paying you good money for this. Don't you forget that! You're dismissed."

Minako pressed against the door to better hear the other person, but she was caught by surprise when the door abruptly swung open. A woman dressed in a dark, purple suit emerged from the room and nearly stepped on her. Minako opened her mouth and was ready to shoot out a stream of apologies when her breath was caught in her throat. The person that the man had been talking to didn't look that much older than herself. And on top of it, she was gorgeous! Long-raven hair flowed down her back, ending just short of the business skirt she wore. Minako's gaze traveled up her long legs to her full, pink lips. Her complexion was flawless. It was a tad unfortunate that her amethyst eyes were staring down disapprovingly at her.

The woman noted the camera slung around the blonde's shoulders.

"You're on the wrong floor."

It took Minako a moment to realize that she was being spoken to. "H-Huh?"

"Media relations are on the 20th floor."

"Oh. I see…Sorry about that. My mistake hahaha…" Minako watched the woman turn away and begin to walk down the hallway behind her. She had so many questions. The man in the office was definitely talking about the blackouts. But he seemed kind of desperate. If the situation was so bad then why did he think some girl barely older than herself was going to be able to solve the problem? She certainly didn't look like a technician; she was dressed too fancily for that. Was she even an employee of the company? She wanted to know more.

"Excuse me." Minako called out to her. The dark-haired woman paused. "You probably already know this, but I was hoping to do a story on the blackouts. I couldn't help but overhear, but I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions?"

"As I've already told you, media relations are on the 20th floor. I suggest that you go and speak with them."

Maybe it was the tone in her voice, but Minako felt indignant. This person had answers and she was going to get them.

"I heard that you were going to fix the blackout problem."

She waited for the woman's reaction but she offered none. Minako decided to press her luck.

"It's not really due to aging infrastructure is it? In some news articles, your employees said there was _something _down there. Like there was always something lurking in the corner of their eyes, or feeling like someone was always watching them. I bet you know what it is, don't you?"

Amethyst eyes turned icy. She walked towards blonde and Minako felt her heart rate skyrocket when she leaned in. Her warm breath was on her ear.

"If you want my advice," she whispered in a low voice, "I would strongly recommend that you stay out of this. Don't go poking your nose where it doesn't belong."

With that, the woman resumed her walk and was out of sight before Minako could offer a retort.

"Wha-"

_What the hell?! What a bitch!_

* * *

Sometime later, Minako left media relations feeling tired, grouchy and just plain frustrated. After being misdirected several times by company staff she eventually found the official spokesperson, only to find the woman very unhelpful. During their entire conversion the woman only perma-smiled and repeatedly referred her to the company website for the official statements. When that didn't reveal any new information she went back to the man's office on the 21st floor, only to be refused a visit. In the end, she was forced to walk away without any answers.

_Some ace-reporter I am. _She thought a little glumly. She had a golden opportunity with that raven-haired girl earlier, but thinking back on it she wondered if the girl would have told her anything. The warning that she had imparted to her was very clear. The company couldn't be involved in something illegal could it? Maybe the raven-haired girl was the company's hired hit-person or what if she had ties to the mafia?

Minako was lost in thought when a flicker of dark-hair caught her eye.

_Speak of the devil…_

The raven-haired girl was standing in front of the building up ahead. The blonde watched as she shot quick glances to her surroundings before disappearing from view. With piqued curiosity, Minako ran to where she was standing and found herself in front of an entrance to an underground parkade. She skimmed the notice on the barricades warning individuals not to enter.

_That's strange. What's she doing here?_ To top it off, it looked like she didn't want to be followed. A light bulb went off in her head. _Hold on a second. This is the perfect opportunity! If I hurry, I might be able to catch up to her and finally get some answers. _

With that thought in mind, Minako hurried down the ramp into the shadows.

**Underground Parkade**

* * *

When Minako didn't see the dark-haired girl, she assumed that she must have gone down to the next floor. As Minako ventured further, she began to notice a few things. Around the third floor there was a notable chill in the air. She thought it might be due to it being underground, so she put up with it. But then she came across a section with holes in the walls. Thick, black cables hung outside of the concrete cast. Some were still discharging electric sparks from their damaged ends.

"What happened here?" Minako whispered to herself. She had never seen anything like it. It looked like something had torn into the cement and ripped them out.

For once, Minako was starting to feel like she was getting in over her head. She checked her phone and found no signal. If she left now she could call the cops or someone to take a proper look at the situation. She would have too, if not for one nagging thought: She hadn't encountered a single person on the way down. That girl she was following was probably still down here somewhere. The thought bothered Minako. Even though she had been angry at the dark-haired girl, she just knew that her conscience wouldn't let her be if she left and something terrible were to happen to her.

Hoping to ease her nerves, Minako took out her camera and quickly snapped a few pictures. As she did, she suddenly felt like someone was watching her. She glanced over her shoulder only to find nothing there.

_That's weird. I could have sworn-_ She immediately stopped that line of thought. The word **Monster **from the column flashed through her mind again. She took few deep breaths to calm herself. There were no such things as monsters. Her imagination was probably playing tricks on her because of all the spooky things she had been reading, right?

After hurriedly taking one last photo she moved on.

Two more floors down Minako encountered something else that she hadn't been expecting. It was one thing to be wandering around in a dimly lit space. But it was another thing entirely when all the lights were out. Halfway through the level she was on, Minako stopped short of that line. Beyond it, it looked like all the lights had been extinguished.

Minako swallowed hard. She was trembling and she knew it wasn't entirely due to the cold anymore.

"No. I-I need to make sure she's alright first. Then I'll leave."Minako continued to tell herself that as she pulled out her phone for some light. Nevertheless it didn't stop her from muttering a few curses about the girl as she groped her way through the darkness. It didn't make any sense. Why would anyone be in the place like this? There was something going on, and her gut didn't like it one bit.

Minako reached another corner and was about to make her way around it when she heard a noise. She froze. Nervously, she shone her light around but in the dark she could barely see anything.

_What did the article say again? _

_"Like there was always something lurking in the corner of their eyes, or feeling like someone was always watching them"_

The noise, she realized, was coming from the walls. It sounded as if they were humming. Minako nearly had a heart attack when she heard a voice. It was a _human_ voice and she definitely recognized its owner.

Minako crawled along the wall towards the voice and soon saw a red light shining out from behind a corner.

"Do you have a name?" The girl's voice came again. This time she heard a deep, muddled voice reply in response.

_Who is she talking to?_

Minako gathered her courage and peeked around the wall to see who it was, only to clamp her hands over her mouth to keep from screaming. The light was coming from two bright-red eyes. They hovered high in the air and were surrounded by a thick, black haze. She could clearly see the dark-haired girl standing before it.

"I see. So your name is Jaedite. Tell me, Jaedite, why haven't you moved on? What do you hope to achieve by lingering here?"

_**"En-ergy…Give me ener-gy."**_

"But you've already consumed a large portion of this city's energy! Why do you need so much? What do you plan on using it for?"

_**"Need…more…moreee…"**_

The monster appeared to be becoming agitated, but the dark-haired girl stood her ground.

"Please stop this! Don't you realize what you're becoming? If you continue on like this, you'll-"

_**"Give me…your ENERGY!"**_

Minako screamed when thin, black arms burst forth from its form and charged the other girl. The dark-haired girl leapt back and withdrew a charm from her sleeve. "Repel!" In an instant the hands hit an invisible barrier and disintegrated in a backlash of wind.

"Who's there?!" Amethyst eyes whirled around and widened in recognition when they caught sight of her. She gasped. "What are you doing? RUN!"

It was too late. Minako could do nothing but watch in horror as one of the arms honed in onto her position. A black hand shot towards her and she squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation. There was a loud crackle and the monster howled in pain. Her blue eyes opened a crack. The hand lay suspended in mid-air as if something had severed it from the main body. A hand grabbed her arm and she turned to see the other girl by her side.

"Follow me!"

Minako didn't need to be told twice.

As they made a break for it the shadowy arms regenerated and gave chase. Minako couldn't see what was happening behind them but every so often the other girl would throw something over her shoulder that would temporary stun its movement.

"I see light!" Minako shouted and pointed ahead.

What should have been hope was suddenly replaced by dread. There were nowhere near ground level and the monster was right at their heels.

_We're not going to make it!_

However, when the pair crossed the line into the light, to Minako's surprise, the other girl dug her heel into the ground and spun around to face the charging monster.

"What are you doing?!"

The dark-haired girl pulled out another charm. Muttering several words quickly under her breath, she threw it into the darkness and the monster let out an enraged roar.

"It…It stopped." Minako stood frozen in awe as she watched the thing squirm against invisible bonds binding it into place.

Wordlessly, the dark-haired girl raised her arms and took a stance. This perplexed Minako at first, but then she caught sight of her shadow. She gasped. Although her hands were physically empty, her shadow reflected one of a bow grasped firmly in her hands. Maintaining a straight posture, the girl pulled her arm back into shooting position.

"This is your last chance!" She shouted to the creature. "Give up this obsession of yours and move on."

_**"Ene-rgy…Energy. Energy-Energy-Energy-"**_

Its black hands were beginning to push through the barrier. For a brief second Minako thought she glimpsed pain in the girl's eyes. The instant the hands broke through the barrier the girl released her arrow and it plunged straight into the center of its being. The monster staggered back, writhing in agony. Where the arrow had entered a hole was opening. Amethyst eyes widened when she caught sight of the sparks of electricity quickly spilling out.

"Get down!"

Minako felt herself being knocked to the ground. She instinctively grabbed the body above her as the area was flooded with electricity. When the rumbling stopped and the dust settled, the area was empty.

The soft sensation of curves pressing against her suddenly disappeared when the girl above her stood up. She surveyed their surroundings briefly before offering a hand to the blonde.

"Can you stand?"

Minako nodded. With the girl's help she shakily got back to her feet.

"So…Is it really over?" Minako asked once she was able to speak again.

"It is. No thanks to you." The girl replied coolly.

"What?"

"If I recall, I told you to mind your own business. You were lucky you weren't hurt or better yet, killed."

Minako bit her tongue. _Yeah, but I only came down here because-_

"Wait a second. Just what were you doing down here anyway?"

"I don't have to answer that."

"You were talking to that thing…" Now that Minako thought about it, didn't the girl seem unusually calm when she spoke to that monster? What was she doing with that thing when she was supposed to be fixing the blackout problem? It clicked. "Don't tell me that was your job!"

The dark-haired girl didn't even blink at the accusation. Instead, a small smirk graced her lips.

"Who can say?"

"You're serious… You really think that thing was responsible for everything?"

"Let me tell you something. In this world, there are some things that can't be easily explained. So sometimes when there's a persistent problem, certain experts are called upon to remedy them."

"So, you're one of these experts," she said slowly, trying to wrap her mind around what she was hearing. "Just to get this straight, you don't work for Power Corp do you?"

"Not directly, no."

Minako was puzzled at the change of heart. Earlier that day the girl had adamantly refused to say anything about the case.

"Why are you telling me this? Aren't you worried that I'll write about it in my article?"

"Not at all."

"…Why not?"

The girl looked at her as if the answer was so amazingly simple.

"Who would believe you?"

Her words were like a slap to the face.

The girl turned around and began to walk up the level. Tired and not knowing what else to do, Minako did the same and they walked the rest of the way in silence. When they finally reached the entrance of the parkade, the raven-haired girl didn't stop walking.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

"Home." She replied nonchalantly. "Maybe you should consider doing the same?"

So that was it? She was going to walk out of her life and everything was going to go back to normal?

"Wait." The word was out of her mouth before her mind realized it. To her surprise, the girl stopped. "I just have one more question. I never got your name."

Dark amethyst eyes met blue ones.

"You're the reporter. You figure it out."

And with that, she was gone.

**Two Days Later**

* * *

Rei was in higher spirits than usual today. The job was finished, the client was happy, and she had been recently paid for it. But best of all, she hadn't seen that blonde girl ever since. She still couldn't believe her. Despite her warning, she went and got herself into danger. What on Earth could she have been thinking? Well, then again, after what happened maybe she'll re-think something like that in the future.

Rei heard the doorbell ring. Seeing that her assistant was out of the office she got up from her desk and opened the door. She immediately wished she hadn't.

"Hey!" Minako's eyes flashed with triumph. "Looks like I've found you, _Rei Hino._"


	2. Case 1: The Grudge

**A/N: I would like to dedicate this chapter to my grandmother who recently passed away. I miss you, RIP.**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sailor Moon.

* * *

_**-Slam!-**_

Minako sighed to herself and decided to once again make herself at home in "her spot". Since she had located the raven-haired girl, whom she had since found out was named 'Rei', she had taken the liberty of visiting her on a daily basis. However, the girl was beyond cruel. She had only asked for one teeny, tiny request. Surely that didn't warrant having a door slammed in one's face? Although she did have to admit, the look on Rei's face when she saw her had been priceless.

_"Looks like I've found you, _Rei Hino_."_

_Rei's eyes widened and Minako could have sworn that she paled a little. _

_"Though, I gotta admit… I didn't think you were serious about the whole ghost hunting business, so that was a bit of surprise. Just out of curiosity did you put that down on your career application form in high school?"_

_Her eye twitched. "What are you doing here?"_

_"Wow, straight to the point, aren't ya? Isn't it obvious?"_

_"No, it isn't." She replied curtly, clearly becoming more annoyed by the second. "What do you want?"_

_"Funny of you to mention… Do you remember our last conversation? You told me that it wouldn't matter what I wrote in my article because no one would believe me. And you know what? After giving it some thought, I realized that you were absolutely right!"_

_Rei waited in silent apprehension. _

_"Buuuut, you know, I can't just go back empty-handed. I did put a lot of time and effort into researching that story, after all."_

_"Let me guess, you want to be compensated for your trouble." She remarked flatly. "How much do you want?"_

_"What? Oh no, I'm not asking for money."_

_Her eyes narrowed at that. "Then what? I don't have all day you know."_

_"I-" Minako purposely drawled out, "want an interview."_

_To her credit, aside from blinking several times Rei's expression betrayed very little emotion in the face of Minako's request._

_"An interview?" she repeated._

_"Yes! I want to interview you!"_

_"I'm afraid that's out of the question. I decline."_

_"But-"_

_"If that is all, please leave."_

_"But, Reeeeeei!"_

_**Slam!**_

Minako quietly laughed at the memory. Rei was such a silly girl. Did she really think that she was going to give up that easily? It surprised her at how much fun this situation was turning out to be. Rei was actually putting up a resistance. For an idol like her the situation was usually the other way around. She had thought it odd before but now she could truly appreciate the thrill that her admirers must have felt when they tried to infiltrate her workplace. Granted, her first few tries were met with a slamming door in her face. After that, Rei didn't bother opening the door at all so she started coming at different times and that worked for awhile. When that stopped working she contemplated doing the fake delivery routine or sneaking in with the clients but at that point Rei might have called the police. So she decided that a stake out would be best.

Sadly, it seemed that the raven-haired girl was not so confident in her sense of ethics.

"Yes, Mr. Takada. Due to present circumstances I'm afraid that we are only accepting requests through email or fax at this time."

Minako smiled to herself as she heard the girl hang up. She was a 'circumstance' now was she? The blonde flinched when she heard Rei's voice come through the door.

"Are you still there?"

"Mhmm. Why? Did you want your coffee now?"

"As I've explained before, I have a kitchen in my office. I can make coffee anytime I want so there's no point in trying to bribe me with it."

"Well if you ever change your mind, just let me know~ It'd be such a shame to let it go to waste." She gave the coffee cup beside her a pat. It was a funny thing, but whenever she left one of these behind and went for lunch it was always gone by the time she got back.

"Go home already." She heard Rei say again in an annoyed voice. "You look like a hobo."

"Hey, I resent that! Do you how much time I spend getting ready in the morning? Well, it's a lot. Besides, you haven't even seen me! Open that door first and then we'll see."

"Nice try."

_Damn. Well, it was worth a try._

"I already told you Rei, I'm not leaving until I get that interview. So really, when you think about it you're only making things harder for yourself. It's been what, almost a week now?" She then giggled when a thought came to mind. "You know, it's almost been like a full time job except I'm not getting paid. Hey, I don't suppose you have any openings?"

Minako jumped when the door suddenly opened and Rei stepped into the hallway. Of course, she was looking stunning as usual.

"Umm…"

"I'm heading out for a bit." Rei arched an eyebrow, making Minako suddenly wish that she hadn't been sitting on the floor. "You're welcome to stay there if you'd like but I wouldn't recommend it. The cleaning staff rarely vacuums."

"Woah!"

_Now she tells me! _Minako jumped up and hurriedly checked her backend for any undesirables. "Hey, hold on! Just where do you think you're going? If you're thinking of trying to ditch me-"

Rei sighed. "I'm just going out to run an errand."

"Yeah, I bet." She was met by a sharp look. "I-Sorry…"

Rei turned on a heel and began walking down the hall. True to her word, Minako immediately followed after her.

"So… Where are we going?"

"_I'm _going to the hospital."

Minako's steps slowed at that.

"Eh, the hospital? Why? Do you know someone who's a patient? And don't you mean 'we'?"

"What you do with your time is none of my business. But if you're so insistent on 'tagging' along then you will have to find your own ride."

"Fine! I will."

* * *

Ten minutes later, Minako found herself resisting the urge to sulk in the passenger's seat of Rei's car. Despite her earlier words, it quickly became apparent that she didn't know where the place was or have the change for a taxi ride. Rather than swallow her words, she was about to accept defeat and sit this one out when Rei seemed to take pity on her and offered her a lift.

_I guess I should be happy…I got what I wanted right? But still…_

Blue eyes peered at her unlikely companion from the window reflection. Since they left the office Rei had yet to say a single word. She was really starting to get the impression that Rei was not a people person.

Minako lightly coughed. "So, what kind of errand do you need to do at the hospital? It's not one of those jobs is it?"

Rei kept her eyes on the road. The blonde hadn't been expecting an answer but then Rei did something _amazing_.

"No, it isn't." she said. "My assistant has been away for awhile so I thought I would check up on her."

"What? You have an assistant?"

"Well, I guess you can say she's more like my secretary."

Minako's jaw dropped.

_How is that possible?! We're practically the same age but you're telling me that she's already running her own business AND has a personal secretary? How is that fair?_

"We're a small office, so it's just the two of us. You can stop gaping now."

"R-Right…So then, can she do that kind of thing too?"

"Hm?"

"You know…that thing you did when you fought that monster last time. Like this," She imitated holding a bow and firing an invisible arrow to emphasize her point.

The girl frowned. "Not to my knowledge, she can't. She helps in other ways though, such as dealing with the clients."

"Oh, I see…So she's normal like me then." The moment the words left her mouth, Minako instantly regretted it. "S-Sorry! That totally came out wrong. I mean, it's not like you're an alien or anything like that. It's just you've got super powers and most of us don't, y'know? Aha…hahaha…"

"…"

"Um…Did I ever mention that super powers are cool?"

Okay, she was reaching and she knew it, but Rei was really leaving her hanging here. How was she supposed to decipher that stone-faced visage of hers? The blonde's anxiety levels spiked when their vehicle slowed and came to a rolling stop.

_Why are we stopping?_ _No, she wouldn't! _Rei wouldn't really kick her to the curb would she? She was ready to spit out another string of apologies when she finally noticed the red stop light hanging above them.

"I have a question for you."

"Yeah?" Minako said, hoping her nervousness didn't show.

"What you said before about fighting monsters…You've witnessed first-hand what sort of things my job entails. You do realize that if you keep following me around you could get involved in something like that again, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then why-?"

"If you're wondering if it's because I have a death wish, it's nothing like that. It's just…At the time, yeah, it was scary. We both could've died." Everything that happened that day, its glowing red eyes, the paralyzing terror she felt as its black arms descended upon her, and its deep sounding bellows, all of it was still vivid in her memory. "Still…before all of this happened, I never even knew a world like that actually existed. I mean, you see stuff like this on T.V all the time but this is was something else entirely. It's real."

"So you're curious."

"Hmm…I wonder," she tapped her chin. A smile then lit her face. "Even if that were true, we both know the real reason why I'm still here. You still haven't given me that interview."

"You would risk your life for an interview?" Rei deadpanned.

"Hey, isn't that like calling the kettle black? You risk your life for your work!"

"Mine is an inherent risk that comes with the job. I can't say the same for you. Speaking of which, which company did you say you worked for again? Aren't you even a bit concerned that you're wasting company time over a non-existent story?"

_Ouch. Not gonna let that go, are ya?_

"Sorry to disappoint but I'm actually self-employed. I'm a freelance reporter," Minako boasted rather confidently.

"Really. For how long?"

"What? Oh, well…Okay, it hasn't been very long but that's only because it was a recent career change."

Rei arched an eyebrow. Minako hoped the girl would drop the subject and to her luck, she did.

"Well, self-employed or not, your camera isn't going to save you from the 'monsters'."

"I know that."

"And before you say it, even with 'super powers' I can't guarantee anyone's safety."

Minako hesitated at that and Rei noticed. The blonde chose her next words carefully.

"Even so, that doesn't stop your assistant does it?"

"No…I suppose not."

The light turned green and they began moving again. Things re-lapsed into an awkward silence. Minako wasn't quite sure what happened, but the atmosphere was getting too heavy for her liking.

"Soo…" she said, making sure that she had Rei's full undivided attention before continuing, "About what we were talking about earlier… Do you ever watch those supernatural T.V shows?"

"Not really. My work doesn't allow me much free time so I usually don't watch T.V. Why do you ask?"

"It's nothing really, just curious. What about work then? You don't really run the business all by yourself do you?"

"I do, for the most part."

"What about family?"

Rei's eyes briefly met hers. "I told you, no interviews," she reminded her in a stern tone. "Anyway, we're here."

Minako inwardly sighed. _Yeah, but what if I had some genuine interest? _She never thought being a 'reporter' would work against her.

"Hey, Rei? Can I ask you one more question? I swear, it's only one!"

"One question." The girl warned.

Okay, this was it. Minako sucked in breath.

"How old are you?"

There was a pause. "I'm 22."

Minako felt like a bag of bricks had been dropped on her head.

_We're the same age… _She wanted to sob.

Minako and Rei entered the building through the hospital's main entrance. After passing by several crowded waiting rooms they finally came across a quieter ward. Briefly, Minako wondered if Rei's secretary was a patient here. She did say that she had been away for awhile and that was why she had wanted to check up on her. Was it possible that she was injured on the job?

Minako followed Rei to the end of the corridor to a small corner room. Rei knocked on the door and they heard a female voice say, "Just a moment!". Shortly, a small, blue-haired woman opened the door. She looked to be about their age but judging by the lab-coat she wore Minako would have guessed that she was a doctor.

"Rei. It's good to see you." She said with a warm smile. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Minako Aino. She's a freelance reporter."

A funny look flitted across the woman's face. "Oh. I see…"

"It's nice to make your acquaintance." Minako said and politely extended her hand.

"Ami Mizuno. The pleasure's mine. Please, come in." She moved aside and gestured the pair into her office. "So what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"Just more of the usual," Rei said. "I tried calling you but you weren't answering your phone so I thought I'd drop by."

"Sorry about that. We've been busier than usual this week. But I am glad that you decided to stop by. There was something that I've been meaning to discuss with you."

Minako quietly stood by the door as the two women conversed. She was wondering why they were in a doctor's office when they were supposed to be visiting Rei's secretary-

_Wait…_she gasped.

"I would like to, but something just came up." She heard Ami say.

"Is it one of those things again?" Ami nodded and Rei sighed. "Minako."

"Hm? W-What is it?"

"Ami and I need to go over some files, but Ami has some paperwork that needs to be done. Do you think you can help out?"

"It'll be really easy," Ami assured her.

"Oh. Well, I guess that would be okay. What do you need me to do?"

"Ami will let you know. I'll meet you in the backroom when you're ready," she said to the blue-haired girl.

"Alright."

After Rei had disappeared into the backroom, Ami turned her attention back to Minako. Even though they had only met she seemed far less intimidating than Rei. It was no wonder why she dealt with the clients.

"I know this is terribly short notice, but I really do appreciate you helping me out. Normally I would do it myself, but..."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all. Since I'm here I might as well try to make myself useful, right?"

"That's very thoughtful of you."

"Y-Yeah…" Minako thought it would be best not to mention that she was stalking her employer and that's why she was here right now.

Ami led her into a second side-room that was wall-to-wall covered with filing cabinets. On a nearby counter-top there was a computer with stacks of letters and empty envelopes lying to either side of it.

"Aside from my regular duties, I also help out time to time with the hospital's volunteer office," Ami explained. "Usually it's when they want to plan an event and could use the extra help."

"Ah…" Minako said in sudden understanding. "So then, is there an event or something coming up?"

"Actually, there is. The annual volunteer appreciation dinner is coming up next month and we need to send out the invites to all of the volunteers." She held up a paper list and gestured to the columns of names.

"Wow. That…looks like a lot of people."

That got a chuckle out of the other girl. "Yes, it is. And that's why I could really use the help. What I'd like you to do is to stick address labels to these envelopes and place one of these letters inside. They're all the same so you don't need to worry about mixing them up."

"Okay. Is that it?"

"That's it."

Well alright, that honestly didn't sound so bad. She watched as Ami took a seat in the chair and powered on the computer.

"To make things easier you can just print the labels off the computer." She double-clicked the mouse and brought up an electronic list.

"Oh nice! So I don't have to type all of them in."

"You got it. Pretty easy right?"

"Yeah."

They swapped places. As Minako was getting comfortable in her new place, Ami made her way towards the door.

"If you have any questions, I'll just be next door."

"Actually-!" she caught her before she turned the door knob, "I kinda do have a question but it's not about the envelopes... Is that okay?"

Ami didn't seem fazed by that. Minako had a funny feeling that the girl had seen this coming.

"I guess it would depend on the question. But it would have to be quick because Rei doesn't like to be kept waiting."

"Yeah, I guess that would be a bad idea," Minako agreed, though reluctantly; the only reason she'd feel bad is if Ami got in trouble because of her. "Okay, so I guess first of all…I know this might sound like a silly question but…Are you a doctor?"

"No. Not yet, I'm not." She answered easily. "I'm actually still a resident in training, but I hope to have my hours finished by next year. So in short, I guess if everything goes well I hope to become a doctor soon."

This wasn't looking good.

"Really? But you look so..."

"Young?"

"Not like that's a bad thing or anything like that!" Minako said quickly. "It was just an observation really."

"It's okay, I get that a lot. I took a number of courses over the spring and summer, and my grades were good enough so I decided to apply to med-school early."

"Oh, I see…It sounds like you were pretty busy. So then, how do you know Rei? Were you guys childhood friends or something?"

"Actually, I only met Rei last year."

"What?! Are you serious?"

"Mhm. There was… an incident with one of my patients. Rei helped me out and I guess ever since I've been returning the favour."

Her words piqued Minako's interest. _Was it one of those…?_

"What kind of incident? If you don't mind me asking that is."

"I'm sorry… Since it's confidential information I'm really not supposed to talk about it."

While Minako believed that Ami was being sincere the disappointment was hard to swallow. She was dying to know more about it.

"That's okay. I understand."

"Sorry."

"No, don't worry about it. I was just curious, that's all."

Mindful of the ticking clock, Minako decided to cut her loses and change up topics.

"Can I ask you something else then? When you said you were returning the favor, what did you mean by that? And why did you start working for her?"

"Well, I guess we started working together because we realized that we made a great team."

"Ah…"

"As for what I do…it really depends on what needs to be done. Sometimes it's paperwork, but I also deal with the clients a fair amount as well."

"So then…what you're saying is you're working two jobs."

"Yes." She beamed.

Minako really hated to ask this because she already had a feeling what the answer would be, but okay. She'd bite.

"I know this might seem like a totally random question, but how old are you?"

Ami blinked. "I'm 22. Why?"

And just like that, an anvil joined the bag of bricks on her head. Minako was really starting to feel outclassed here. Rei was running her own business and Ami was a doctor/secretary on the side. Didn't they do anything other than work?

Things really weren't looking good; Ami's answer had left her in a bit of a predicament. As Minako mulled over how to proceed, Rei abruptly entered in the doorway and startled both girls.

"Sorry, but we've got to go." She said to Ami.

"What do you mean? Where are we going?"

"West end. I just got off the phone with a potential client and for whatever reason they wanted to meet with us right away."

"I see. But…"

To say that Minako was feeling like a third wheel felt especially true when the pair turned to look at her as they were doing now.

"Hey, you guys don't need to worry about me. If it's alright with you, I can just stay here and finish up until you guys get back."

Rei looked to Ami. "It's your office."

"Mm… well as long as you stay in here it should be okay," Ami slowly said.

"Right. You got it!" she gave them a thumbs-up and saw Rei roll her eyes.

"We should be back within an hour. But if you decide to leave for whatever reason, be sure to lock the door."

"Yeah, yeah…"

She couldn't wait for them to leave. The moment Minako heard the door shut, she re-positioned herself in front of the computer and rolled up her imaginary sleeves. If Rei trusted Ami because she convinced her that they made a great team, then all she had to do was do the same right? Even though it involved paperwork and she had a 5-minute attention span, this time she was determined to stick with a task until the end.

* * *

Printing out the addresses was simple enough. But after licking the glue on about twenty envelopes or so Minako's tongue was starting to feel like sand-paper. That little issue was soon solved when she grabbed a paper cup filled with water from outside and began to dab it onto the glue with a piece of Kleenex (she was rather proud of herself for the idea). By the time Minako had finished the remaining envelopes, two and a half hours had already gone by.

Minako stared up at the clock in wonder. "That's strange. They should have been back by now." A minute later the blonde blew a long sigh from her seat.

_I get the feeling they're not going to be back anytime soon…_

It was just shortly past noon. Maybe they had gone for lunch? Or what if something went horribly wrong and they were in danger? Nah, that couldn't be it; Rei said they were only meeting with the client and besides, even if there was any danger Rei was, like, invincible. Still, waiting all alone with nothing to do was really boring and she was really starting to feel it in the derrière.

"You know what?" she said aloud to no one in particular."I think I need some fresh air."

It's not like she was going to be gone long - if Rei gets all cranky over it then that was too bad because she was going to leave a note.

* * *

The moment she left the hospital Minako was starting to feel better already. She never did care for the scent of lingering hand-sanitizer. Not wanting to stray too far, she picked a direction and began to explore the nearby neighborhood. Until now, she never had a reason to visit this part of town. One of the first things that caught her eye was all of the little street shops. In the big city she didn't see them that much and in a way, she realized that she kind of missed that.

As Minako passed by one of the stores, she saw a poster that made her stop.

"No way!" she gasped. "Oh my god, you're telling me that they've already released the new Sailor V game?" Minako was torn. She wrote that she would only be gone for a half an hour but this was the new Sailor V game she was talking about here! Minako stared down the arcade doors, steeling her willpower. No, she was going to be responsible. She was going to turn around and walk back right now. Right…now…

_Well, five minutes couldn't hurt, right? I'll just take a peek. Yeah…that's all._

She then happily skipped into the arcade through the large double doors.

The arcade was exactly how she remembered it (that is, except for the odd smell in the air) but all was forgotten when the blonde eye-spied a pair of empty seats in the middle of the row. She lunged for them but the instant her palm smacked the cushion a larger body collided with hers and knocked her to the floor.

"Ow…That really hurt." She said through gritted teeth.

"Ah, I'm so sorry!" The person above her said.

"Well, yeah, you better be! Just what were you thinking anyway-" she was cut off when a hand was extended to her. Minako looked up and noticed that he was a young man, maybe a few years older than herself. He wasn't bad looking but his brown, shaggy hair was rather long as it covered his eyes. He also had an uneven stubble lining his chin – it looked a little awkward but maybe he was growing a goatee?

"Look, I'm really, really sorry. I swear I didn't see you!"

_Yeah, I think I can understand why…_ The blonde silently retorted.

"Are you hurt?"

"No, I don't think so." She finally said. The relieved look on his face somehow reminded her of a hopeful puppy. "Anyway… since there are two seats and two of us what do you say we let by-gones be by-gones and share?"

"Sounds good to me."

They both sat down and Minako could almost hear those Sailor V lasers firing away when the guy spoke up again.

"By the way, the name's Yuichiro."

"Mina."

"So, Mina, do you come around here often?"

Was he trying to pick her up? "Nope. Actually I'm just visiting from out of town."

"Really? That's kind of interesting."

"Yeah, I just happened to see the poster for the new Sailor V game so I decided to stop by to check it out. I'm guessing that's why you're here too?"

"Oh. Y-Yeah…I know everyone says it's a girly game, but I actually think it's kind of cool."

"You mean because of the monster smashing?"

"Yeah! Exactly! But it's not only that. The games are really challenging y'know?"

"I know, right? And it doesn't hurt that the main character is running around in a mini-skirt too!"

"Yeah!"

There was a pause.

"I-I mean, NO!" Yuichiro groaned and buried his face in his hands. Minako took this as permission to finally start her game. But as she went to hit the start button the flashing words "**Insert your coins**" blocked her.

"Aw, shoot," she sighed under her breath, drawing the boy's attention again.

"What's wrong?"

"I need to grab some change."

"Oh, well if you need some-"

"No, no- I appreciate the thought, but I got this. Trust me. Though…I don't suppose you'd mind saving my seat for me while I'm gone?"

"Yeah, sure. No problem."

"Thanks!"

**Hospital Office**

* * *

"Minako?"

"She doesn't seem to be here Rei." Ami said as she peered into the back room.

"Are you sure?"

"Well, we were gone longer than we said we'd be," she reminded her. If anything, the thought seemed to annoy the raven-haired girl even more. Ami then noticed a small sticky note attached to the computer screen. "It looks like she left a note."

"Really? What does it say?"

"She said she was going for a walk. Should be back by quarter to 3:00pm." She decided not to mention the '_By the way, you're late!_' scribbling at the bottom of the note beside the sassy smiley face. Ami discreetly crumpled the piece of paper and slipped it into her coat pocket as Rei went to check the time.

"It's only twenty past two," Rei said. "So she should be back soon."

"I see. So what are we going to do in the meantime? Do you think you'll check out the arcade?"

Rei scowled. "I don't even know why we took this job on to begin with. Machines turning on at night? Coins being shot out of the coin dispenser? Do I _look_ like an electrician?"

Ami giggled. "No, definitely not. But he's right you know. If it's really nothing to be concerned about then it shouldn't take too much time, and he was willing to pay in full regardless of the results."

She could see the gears spinning in Rei's head and knew that her "boss" was considering her argument. If one had to bank on anything it was that Rei was a logical girl.

"Also, something has been bothering me ever since we left his office…Since all of the problems superficially appear to be electrical in nature, do you think it might have anything to do with the black-out incident?"

An odd look swept over Rei's face. "So you thought about that too."

Ami nodded. "This is just a guess, but hypothetically what if your arrow didn't completely dispel the spirit? If it had an affinity for electricity then isn't there a chance that it could have slipped a part of itself into the nearby circuitry?"

"When you put that way, I suppose it's possible. I wouldn't jump to any conclusions though. We'll check it out - if there's anything unusual we'll deal with it then."

"Wait. What about Minako?

"What about her?"

"She doesn't have a key remember? If we both leave, she won't be able to get back in."

Rei was pinching the bridge of her nose. "Right…"

"Hey, we both don't have to stick around. How about I stay here and you go on ahead? Once Minako gets back and I let her in, I'll meet up with you."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, it's alright. I'll also keep my phone on me in case you need me. I'll be sure to pick it up this time."

Rei cracked a small smile at that. "Alright. I'll be going then." She turned to leave, but there was one more thing on Ami's mind.

"Rei?"

"Hm?"

"Before you go, I just have one question."

"What is it?"

"Why did you bring Minako here this morning? I know you said you ran into someone during the last investigation and it shouldn't be an issue but…" She hesitated for a moment but Ami decided to press the matter. "We both know how much you hate reporters. So please, be honest with me. She isn't blackmailing you, is she?"

"No, it's nothing like that. Really," she emphasized and met her gaze. Ami searched her dark eyes for a moment. When she felt reasonably confident that Rei wasn't lying to her she backed off.

"Okay… Well, I'm glad to hear that. She really didn't seem like a bad person so it would have been really disappointing if it were something like that."

That piqued Rei's interest. "Why? Did she say anything to you?"

"Not really. She did ask a few questions though, like how we met and what sort of work I do when I'm at the office. Don't worry though, I didn't go into great detail about anything."

"Good work. What about the letters?"

To say the least, the question caught Ami off guard. "What?"

"Did she finish them?"

"Oh, I'd almost completely forgotten about it." She quickly flipped through the pile of envelopes. "As far as I can tell they're all done. To be honest, I wasn't expecting her to do all of them."

"Guess it's your lucky day. In any case, I really should get going now. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Yeah…"

**Queen's Arcade**

* * *

"Hey, I'm back! Thanks for saving my seat." Minako said as she reclaimed her spot. "Hey, you won't believe this but the coin machine wasn't working for some reason. I tried like ten times but I ended up having to go to the front desk for change. Pretty crazy, huh?"

Yuichiro didn't say anything. In fact, he made no acknowledgement of her presence.

"Um…Yuichiro?"

Still no reaction – his attention appeared to be solely focused on his screen.

"Fine, be that way," Minako whispered under her breath. Now that she noticed it, it seemed like everyone around her was also engrossed in the game. Was it really that good? Huh, maybe once she started playing she would see what the big deal was about.

Minako picked up a coin and positioned it in front of the coin slot when a loud 'Bam!' from beside her startled her. Heart hammering in her chest, she whipped her head to the right. A middle aged man was lying hunched over the game console. He was visibly shaking.

"…-…-….-"

"Um…A-Are you, okay?"

"Shit-"

_What?_

"Shit-shit-shit-shit-SHIIIIIIT! No! I lost?! Why am I always the loser?" he snarled, making Minako stand up and quickly back away. "I lose my job, and then my wife left me for that dirty-sneaky, lying bastard!"

_H-Holy crap, he's totally lost it._

"Hey, Yuichiro? Do you think someone should maybe call the cops or something?" When she received no response again, Minako snapped. She grabbed him by the arm. "Hey! I'm talking to you!"

The blonde let out a cry when he forcibly shoved her.

"Back off! Can't you see I'm busy?!" Yuichiro bashed at the game controls but despite all of his efforts Sailor V was caught by a monster's energy beam and died on screen. "DAMMIT!" He smashed his fist down onto console in rage.

Minako was in complete shock. What on Earth had gotten into everyone? Invisible to her eyes, a heavy black mass was growing in size near the ceiling, just above the machines. Two hazy arms reached down and enveloped the office worker and Yuichiro. The pair instantly quieted down and calmly inserted more coins to re-start the game.

A terrible feeling gripped the blonde.

_I've got to get out of here!_

Minako carefully manoeuvred her way toward the front doors, hoping no one would notice her. She made it without any difficulty but when she approached them they didn't open. In a panic she frantically shoved her fingers into the crack and tried to pry them apart but it was to no avail; the doors were shut tight.

"What the hell…? Why won't it open?!"

She ran to the front desk. At a first glance it looked empty, but then she noticed the passed out figure on the floor. Minako clamped a hand over her mouth. She didn't know what to do. The air – she swore it was getting thicker, making it harder to breath by the second. Before she knew it, her thoughts were spinning into disarray and she was starting to feel dizzy.

_It's like that time..._ The thought struck her suddenly. She needed to call Rei. Rei would know what to do! The blonde whipped out her cell and was ready to use it when another awful thought struck her. She never memorized Rei's number.

Minako slumped to her knees on the floor.

_This is all my fault… If I had only went back to the hospital when I should have, then none of this would have happened. _

A black aura began to emit from her body. Another hazy arm pushed out of the dark entity and it slowly honed in onto the distressed girl.

_Or…Who knows, maybe I had this coming for a long time. What was the point in trying to start over? Everything…no matter how much I try, everything keeps going wrong. I'm such a failure…_

A cold chill washed over her and she shivered. The arm was right behind her now, reaching out and just inches away from the back of her neck when-

"ako-Minako!"

She turned her head towards the window and nearly had a heart attack.

"Rei?" Minako leapt to her feet and ran over to the window. She pressed her hands against the glass and saw Rei attempt to do the same, only her hand was repelled by a sharp jolt of dark energy.

"Rei! Are you alright?!" Minako hit at the glass. She watched the ghost hunter step back and settle into an archer's pose. Taking the hint, Minako quickly stepped back. Rei aimed at the doors and released the arrow. It struck the barrier with a 'crackle', and sent a shockwave ripping throughout the entire building. When the vibration died down Minako approached the doors once again but found that they were still locked tight.

Rei pulled out her phone. What was she doing?

On the other side of the glass Rei heard Ami pick up.

"Hello?"

"Ami! You were right, we have a situation here."

"Are you okay? What happened?"

"I'm fine, but Minako is trapped inside the building."

"What?!"

"I've just tried to dispel it from the outside but it's not working. Somehow it seems to have sealed down the building."

In a quieter voice, Ami asked, "Do you know what we're dealing with?"

"Yes, and we were wrong. This isn't the spirit from before." Rei trained her gaze onto the black mass hovering by the ceiling. The black entity turned its blazing red eyes onto the exorcist's form. And with a mocking bellow, it laughed. "This is a class [A] Grudge."

"I'll be right there!"

Rei approached the building again. This time she typed a message on her phone and held the screen up so Minako could see it.

Minako, realizing that it was a phone number quickly gave it a call.

"Minako."

"Rei! I'm so glad to see you. You have to get me out of here!"

"I'm going to, but I need Ami to get here first."

"What? Why don't you just do that thing you did last time?"

The girl gritted her teeth. "I did, but it didn't work." Seeing her exasperated face, she explained, "I'm sorry, but that thing has the entire building sealed down by a barrier of some sort."

"A barrier? And what _thing _are you talking about?"

Rei's serious eyes met her frightened ones. "It's over there," she pointed high above Minako's left shoulder, "right by the ceiling. It's feeding off of the negative emotions of the players. Usually it wouldn't be a problem but because there's so many of victims the barrier has become too strong for me to penetrate. That's why, once Ami gets here I'll have her over-ride the electrical system and then I can get at its source, the machines."

"The machines…?" Minako repeated. That's right, Yuichiro started acting weird after he started playing the game. "What if we unplugged them?"

"Don't do it. The electrical outlets are too close to that thing," Rei said in a stern voice. "Minako, what you need to do is to get as far away as you can away from that thing and wait for us. This is for your own safety."

So that's it? She was just supposed to run away and hide from a thing that she can't even see?

"Hold on. Rei, you said this thing was feeding on the gamers right? Just hear me out but hypothetically, if it had less people to feed on, do you think could you break through the barrier then?"

"Maybe, but-" Rei's amethyst eyes briefly grew wide, before narrowing dangerously. "Minako, don't you dare-!"

Minako ended the call and threw her phone aside. Maybe she couldn't see things like Rei could. And maybe she didn't have any special powers. But for some reason, despite the insanity of the situation, her mind felt crystal clear.

_I can do this. If Rei needs a distraction, then maybe I can give her one._

She now stood in front of the lone machine and turned her eyes up. Now that she knew where it was it was a little easier to sense it's oppressive presence. Behind her she could vaguely hear Rei's muffled yells. The sound in comparison was dim to the pounding of her heart.

Minako squeezed her clammy hands as she sucked in a deep breath.

"HEY! I know you're up there!" She said loudly while pointing to the ceiling where Rei had gestured earlier. "If you want a real challenge why don't you take me on?!"

There was a heavy silence that followed. Minako was starting doubt her newfound courage when the screen temporarily went static. The bold the words, "**A New Challenger Has Appeared!**" flashed across the screen.

"Okay," Minako muttered as she sat down on the seat. The moment she did the word '**START**' flashed in bolded red. "Let the game begin."

From outside, the moment Minako touched the controls Rei saw the dark mist slowly surround the blonde. "Minako!" Where on Earth was Ami?! That was when she noticed it. As the mist around Minako was darkening, the ones around the surrounding players were dissipating.

Minako cleared the first 4 levels easily enough, but the moment she hit level 5 the enemies began to acquire upgrades.

"Oh shit…Shit, shit, shit – no!"She jerked the control stick and saw her character narrowly missed the boss monster's attack. Sailor V flipped back in the air and the instant she hit the ground Minako activated her special attack. The monster was vaporized and Sailor V made her victory pose. In that moment five of the twenty video game screens fizzled and went black. The gamers at those stations slumped and fell unconscious.

The blonde wiped her brow, trying to fight the fatigue that was beginning to settle in. She just needed to hold out long enough for Ami to get here or until Rei could do her thing. With that thought in mind she took a steadying breath and proceeded to the next level.

Minus another three video screens later, Minako had reached the boss of level 12. The final boss had enormous claws that were making it difficult to evade. A single claw ripped the air above Sailor V and Minako ducked in time, but she didn't have the luxury to feel relief. The moment she dodged the creature leapt back and released a bombardment of missiles from its chest. Minako reacted in turn but things were getting absolutely ridiculous; no sane human being would have created the game to be this hard. Minako dwindled down the creature's health points to less than a quarter and charged up to deliver the finishing blow when one of the boss's sub-units appeared from the sky and one-hit KOed Sailor V.

Minako stared at the screen in shock. She had a little over half of her life left. There was no way she was just one-hit KOed by some miscellaneous monster. The girl tightened her grip on the control stick as shock gave way to anger.

"Why you cheating little-!" She slammed a hand down on the control panel. The mist around her darkened and her blue eyes flashed red. "Oh. It is SO ON NOW!"

Another screen went out. Outside, Rei held her stance and was ready to attack at a moment's notice. Judging from the decrease in power with each video screen that went out, she calculated that at least ten of the machines needed to be off in order for the plan to work. She could only hope that Minako would last that long.

Never button-mashing so hard in her life, Minako felt the tables were beginning to turn in her favor. After blasting the boss monster's ugly butt, Sailor V's avatar quickly climbed the remaining levels in succession. After collecting two more 'life ups' and unlocking Sailor V's ultimate attack, Minako came across the Grand Boss.

"I'll show…you!" She hissed through gritted teeth. On the side-bar, Sailor V's overdrive gauge peaked. "Not to mess with ME!" she hammered down on the button and unleashed Sailor V's overdrive: Crescent Beam Shower. The screen lit up in white and two more video screens went dark.

There it was! Rei let her arrow fly and this time when it hit the barrier it didn't vaporize. The arrow briefly struggled against the dark energy, forcing a backlash of winds into the area, until it finally pierced. A loud roar rang in the air and nearly drowned out the sound of Ami's voice.

"Rei!" She yelled, looking red-faced from running.

"Ami, grab Minako!" she shouted.

This time the doors opened without any resistance. Ami ran opposite to Rei towards the blonde. Without slowing down, her arm connected with the girl's mid-section and forcibly knocked her off her seat.

"What are you doing?!" Minako shrieked.

Ami was caught off-guard by a punch to the face. Instinctually she leveraged her body against the taller girl and struggled to hold her arms down as her red eyes shot murderous daggers at her.

"Rei-! Hurry!"

Rei pulled up short in front of the machines and pulled out a paper charm. "Rin, Pyou, Tou, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen! Evil spirits…disperse!" She threw the charm and watched it attach to the Sailor V poster on the head machine. The dark entity overhead pulsed and contracted in what appeared to be a series of painful spasms before it let out one last roar and faded away out of existence.

The heavy air broke and the putrid odour was gone. Minako blinked from the floor, feeling very confused.

"Ami?" she asked. The girl looked like a blob with blue hair. "When-When did you get here?"

"It's a long story," she said as she helped the blonde up.

"I bet. Nng…my head really hurts." She whimpered.

"Probably an after-effect," Rei agreed. All around them people were starting to come to. "Come on, we better get going."

**Nearby Park**

* * *

The group soon found themselves in a nearby park. Minako and Ami were sitting on a bench together as the blonde tried to steady herself.

"Is she alright?" she heard Rei say. Her voice still sounded a little fuzzy.

"I'm not sure. At this point it's hard to say…I would like to take her back to the office and do a proper examination just to be sure."

"I'm fine," Minako protested weakly. "I'm just…a little tired, okay? Also, Ami?"

"Hm? What is it?"

"I'm really sorry I punched you."

Rei arched an eyebrow at that. Ami looked a little awkward but she seemed to understand.

"It's okay, I know you didn't mean it," she assured her.

"So, about what happened back there…" Minako started. "Just what was that thing?"

"It was a Grudge." Rei said simply.

"Say what?"

"You can think of it this way. When people die, they sometimes leave behind an echo. A ghost, spirit, you can call it whatever you want, but they're only a shadow of the person of when they were alive. Follow so far?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Alright. Now in comparison, a Grudge is just an accumulation of negative energy. It doesn't have sentience like a spirit but it can affect the living just by its existence. You might have felt it in places that make you very uncomfortable or dark in general. Hospitals are a good example."

"B-But isn't that dangerous? If it was anything like today then-"

Rei shook her head. "The majority of Grudges might make you uncomfortable but that's usually the extent of their influence."

"Those are Class [E] right?" Ami asked.

"Right, they're the most commons ones and the least harmless. The more harm they do to a person, the higher their rank increases. Which is why, today's case was very unusual."

"How unusual?" Minako asked worriedly.

"In the entire time that I've been in this business, this is the first time I've seen a Class [A]. So in short I wouldn't let it worry you too much. I doubt we will run into another one anytime soon."

"Right." Minako let out a breath of relief. This was sure a lot to take in all at once. "Well, in any case I'm glad that it's over with."

"Just so we're clear, what you did back there was very dangerous," Rei reminded her. "If things didn't work out the way they did…"

"Yeah, I know. But it was the only thing that made sense at the time. You said that thing, the Grudge, or whatever it was feeding off of everyone so…I figured that if I made it focus on me then it would let everyone else go."

"You figured all of that out by yourself?" She heard Ami say.

"Mhm…and it worked. Not too shabby, right?" she shot a grin at Rei.

The ghost hunter looked thoughtful.

"Rei?" Ami asked. She didn't like that look.

"Anyway, that aside, what do you plan on doing now? Are you going to go back to your regular day-job?"

That was definitely not what she was expecting to hear. What on Earth was Rei saying? What else did she have to do to prove herself?

"I've already said this before, but if you keep following me around then you're just going to get yourself into more danger."

"I know _that_!" She snapped. Minako was now on her feet, though a little shaky. "Look, I've already told you, I'm not leaving."

"And why's that? Is it because you still want that interview?"

Rei's serious gaze and Minako's angry one collided head on. Ami was left between the two women wondering how this was going to end.

Minako opened her mouth, ready to retort a snarky 'Yes!', but then she stopped. Rei was patiently waiting for her answer, but that look in her eye – the blonde's gut feeling was telling her to carefully reconsider that answer because what she was about to say next was important.

Why was it so important to her that she stayed?

"No." she finally said in a calmer voice. "Actually, what I would really like is a job."

"Is that so? Well, there just might be an opening."

"Now wait just a minute!" Ami pulled the ghost hunter aside. She hushed her voice as she spoke to the dark-haired girl but Minako heard every word of it. "Rei, what are you thinking?! Even if you're thinking of hiring her, you can't ask her this now. She just went through a traumatic experience! She might not even be in her right mind, right now."

"There's nothing wrong with me," Minako grumbled.

"No, Ami's right. I should apologize."

"But-" Minako protested, but stopped when she saw Rei pro-offered her hand. In it there was a small card. "What's this?"

"There's something that I want you to think about," she said. "Up until this point you've only seen us during the 'hunt' phase of an active investigation. Out of everything we do, we probably spend the least amount of time on that. Whether it's doing research or handling administrative detail, it varies, but when you get down to it it's not always all fun and games. Also, this might seem obvious but everything we do is confidential. So you won't be able to print anything from our investigations."

Minako flipped the card over and realized that it was a business card. Underneath the logo, it listed Rei as a 'Paranormal investigator' and Ami as an 'Assistant paranormal investigator'.

"If you think you can agree to that, and are still interested…drop by. You know where we are."

Minako nodded. Unconsciously, her hands gripped the card a little more tightly.

* * *

After Ami did a check-up on Minako and concluded that nothing was wrong, Rei offered to drive her home. The entire car-ride passed by in silence. Before Minako knew it, they were in front of her apartment building.

"Thanks for the ride. I can take it from here," Minako told the other girl as she got out of the vehicle. Rei gave a slight nod in response. "Oh. And Rei?"

"What is it?"

With the biggest smile she could muster, Minako said,

"See you tomorrow!"


	3. Case 2: The Boy who Wanted to Live

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Sailor Moon

* * *

**Hospital Ward**

In a dim-lit room the sound of a heart monitor beeped with each slow rise and fall of the sleeping man's chest. It continued at that steady pace until there was a sharp inhalation of breath. The machine at his bedside clamored in alarm as the wave-lengths on its monitor spiked.

The man's blue eyes cracked opened.

**Hino Paranormal Investigation Office – 8:00 AM**

* * *

Minako could hardly believe it. She traveled hundreds of miles to get away from work and what was she about to do? Right, start a new job. The blonde pulled out her pocket mirror and did a last minute assessment.

_Hair? Perfect. Eyes? Awesome at ever~! Lips? Hmm… better put on some more lipstick just to be safe._

Today Minako Aino decided that she would surprise Rei! …But in a good way. While strolling into work wearing nothing but a bikini swimsuit just to see Rei's reaction would be amusing, she instead opted for something a bit more conservative. Minako wore a white blouse that was layered with a well-fitting dark blazer, a mid-thigh reaching black skirt, and flattering high heels to complete the ensemble. Admittedly the business look wasn't something that she was used to but contrary to what some people thought, she wasn't a complete airhead. Like everybody else she wanted to make a good impression on her first day and if that meant playing sexy secretary then so be it!

"There! That should do it!" She put away the mirror and picked up her coffee cups with a smile. Even if she already got the job that was one of the things that she learned from show business; 1) you can never suck up too much, and 2) it never hurts to bring a bribe.

_Okay. Ready or not, here goes!_

She raised her hand to knock on the door when it suddenly opened. Ami Mizuno, her new co-worker from this day forward, blinked back in surprise.

"Oh. Minako, good morning." she greeted.

"Good morning!"

"You're right on time. Please, come in."

"Okay. Please pardon the intrusion!" Minako could barely keep it together as she stepped inside. She knew it was only an ordinary office but after scheming for so long to get in and now being welcomed at the front door – well, it gave her a happy, bubbly sense of accomplishment. "Oh, before I forget…where should I put these?"

"Hm?"

"You know? The coffee?" She held the tray up to the other woman's line of sight.

"Um…anywhere is fine. Though," she said in a hesitant voice, "you aren't going to drink all of those by yourself, are you?"

"What? No, of course not!" Minako laughed. "These two are for Rei and you."

"Ah…"

"What's wrong?" Minako gasped. "Oh, you're a tea person aren't you?"

The other girl chuckled. "Well, I do like tea but these days I've been drinking coffee a lot more than I should. But I digress. No, you just surprised me because I didn't know you'd be bringing something so… I already made a pot of coffee."

"Ah."

"Yeah…"

A light bulb lit up in her head.

"Okay, no problem. Tell you what. You can have this…" she said as she handed her the cup, "and I'll drink down that pot. I mean it'd be a shame for it to go to waste, right?" Ami was looking at her as if that probably wasn't a good idea. "Aww, don't worry! It'll be fine!"

_I think._

That's when Minako noticed something unusual. "Speaking of which, where's Rei?"

"Oh. She called in earlier to say that she was going to be late this morning."

"Is that so?"

_C'mon Rei! It's my first day! If I have to be here on time then so should you! What kind of boss are you?!_

"That's too bad." Minako said, still smiling. "Do you think it has something to do with another case?"

"She didn't say, but knowing her I'd say that's very likely. In any case, thank you for bringing the drinks Minako. If Rei were here, I'm sure she would say the same."

"Uh huh." Minako had tried to keep the sarcasm out of her voice, but failed.

"Well, she should. Since as far as I know, Rei can't make coffee to save her life."

Minako's ears perked up at that. "She can't make coffee?"

"Mhm."

"So what does she do when you're not around?"

Ami shrugged. "Who can say?"

Minako's dark side cackled internally. After all of those times she left coffee outside in the hallway she was beginning to wonder if the janitor had simply thought they was trash and threw them out. But since Rei herself said that the cleaning staff didn't clean very often and now that she knew that Rei couldn't make coffee, it looked like the ghost hunter might have really taken them. Her thoughts were already running away with the possibilities when she heard Ami clear her throat.

"Since we're both here, why don't we get started without her?"

Minako blinked, slightly taken aback. Then she remembered that she actually came here to do some work. "Ok, sure. Sounds good to me. So what are we gonna do?"

"Well, if it's alright with you, I was thinking we could maybe start with a mini office tour. To start, is our client area." Ami said as she gestured to the two sofas beside them. There was a small, glass coffee table situated between them. "My desk is over here," she said, walking to the right, "and Rei's is over there." She pointed to the far wall across from the office entrance. "As you can see it's more of an office space."

"Huh. Is that because she's the boss?"

"Probably. But part of being the boss also means taking a lot of phones calls, so I wouldn't be too jealous if I were you."

_Ick._

She followed Ami to a desk located in front of the living room window.

"This is where you'll be working. We only received the desk last night, so I'm afraid everything isn't set up yet."

"That's okay. I mean, I was only hired yesterday. It was short notice."

"Well, in any case, I gave the technician a call this morning. So hopefully they'll come down and get your computer set up soon."

After that, Ami went on to show her where the bathroom, kitchen, and printer room was. Needless to say, it didn't take very long so when the tour was over it was time for Minako to start her first task.

The blonde watched as the part-time doctor retrieved a folder from a nearby filing cabinet.

"What's that?"

"Take a look."

Minako opened the folder and her gaze instantly trained on to the first article she saw. She recognized it instantly; this was the very same article she had read while investigating the blackout case. She noted that it was clipped onto a larger, type-written report. Also attached in the package were several pages of notes, additional articles and a few hand-drawn sketches.

"That's interesting." She said absent-mindedly as she continued to flip through the pages. "Kind of reminds me of Supernatural."

"Hm?"

"Yeah, you know…Okay, maybe you don't. It's an American show and it has two really hot guys. Anyway, as you were saying?"

"Okay…Anyway, as you've probably noticed, this folder contains information on all of our recent cases. During an investigation we put everything we learn into here. Just so you know it doesn't have to be anything official. So it can be personal notes, sticky notes, articles…"

"So, pretty much anything."

"Right. The reason for that is - that's just how this business is. A lot of the information we get is from personal experience."

"Wow. I bet that complicates things sometimes."

"It does, sometimes." She admitted. "But we manage. In any case, once we finish investigating a case one of us, usually Rei or myself, would write up a summary report. It looks like this," she picked up the top report and quickly flipped through it for Minako to see. "So, usually I would do it but after discussing it with Rei the other day she thought that it would be best if you did it from now on."

"Wait, what? You mean she wants me to do this all by myself?"

"Not all of it; just the summary report. We'll all help out with the investigation of course." Minako breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't worry, it's pretty easy. There are only a few things that you really need to keep in mind."

"Yeah?"

"Mhm. Like, when you're writing the report there are three basic sections. This includes who our client was, what was the problem, and how it was solved. The second thing is… well, it's not really required or anything, but…we have an office rule where whoever writes the report gets to add their own finishing comments at the end of it. In fact, you'll probably run across of few of them if you read the older reports."

"I see. Sounds interesting…"

"More or less. So, any questions so far?"

"Mm…Not really."

"Great. Then if you're up to it, why don't you try writing up the summary report for the Queen's Arcade incident?"

She hesitated at that."Right now?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Well…" Minako nervously looked at the report in front of her and only saw a wall of text. To say the least, literature had never been one of her strongest points in school.

"You know, even though everything only happened yesterday, I'd recommend reading the documents in the folder before you start writing."

Minako blinked. "Oh. Oh, yeah, right. I should do that. Thanks."

"No problem. If you have any questions, just ask."

"Okay." The blonde turned her blue eyes to the reports once again. With one look the drowsiness began to sink in. Yep, it was definitely time to start drinking that pot of coffee.

Two cups of coffee later and starting her third, Minako was really getting into it. The case notes were surprisingly interesting. She had no idea that there were previous instances with the arcade. If she had known that a dysfunctional coin dispenser was a sign of otherworldly activity she would have run out screaming. In addition to that she soon gained knowledge on haunted toilets, how to fake apparitions, and real-life possession. There was even a case related to a curse but one look at the picture of the victims prompted her to skip ahead. Eventually, Minako ran out of reading material. Knowing what that meant, the blonde took another sip of her coffee wishing it alcohol instead. Then she took another. And another. Her bladder lurched and she made a quick run to the ladies room. When she got back, she found Ami watching her with an amused expression. Minako sat down at her desk and picked up her pen with determination. She was going to do this! As soon as her hand stops twitching…

Minako heard Ami get up from her desk. She was by her side in a heart-beat.

"So how's it going?"

"Fine." She mumbled.

"Is that so? You know, it's okay to say if you're bored."

Her head shot up. "What? Who said anything about being bored?" The blonde paused. "I don't look bored do I?"

"Maybe just a bit. But to be honest, it's not really that surprising. I mean, things must've been really different at your last job, right?"

Her last job - being up on stage in the spotlight with a whole crowd of people cheering you on and hanging onto your every word – she remembered that feeling. But that was before…

"Yeah…it was really different. But it's the same for you too, right? I mean, you didn't start as a paranormal investigator either. Actually, wouldn't it be even weirder for you? Since you're a doctor and all."

"Not yet, I'm not," she reminded her.

"Right. Well, close enough. You know what I mean. Like, you work with "living" people all the time. So, doesn't it feel weird to be hunting ghosts?"

Ami didn't say anything for a moment. For some reason, Minako felt like she had stepped onto a sensitive topic.

"A bit, I suppose." The blue-haired girl admitted. "But then again…I guess when a person sees a spirit for the first time it really changes one's perspective on things."

"So it doesn't bother you at all?"

"I wouldn't say that. It's just…Sorry, I can't really explain it."

"That's okay. I get it. It was the same for me too."

"Huh?"

"The first time I saw a ghost, it was when I was looking for Rei. It was a really scary experience…but afterwards, it was like I couldn't forget it no matter what I did."

"I see."

"So, the first time you saw a ghost…was that also when you met Rei?"

"Mm. Yeah, it was."

"You said it involved one of your patients right? I know you said you couldn't talk about it, but I've been thinking…was it a possess-"

The sound of footsteps alerted them to their boss who had just happened to stroll into the office at that moment.

"Good morning, Rei." Ami greeted her.

"Good morning."

"Morning~!" Minako chirped.

"Morn-" Rei stopped. Minako could've sworn that she was looking at her, but not really at the same time. The words 'who are you?' were written all over the exorcist's face. Minako then saw her gaze briefly drop to her cleavage where she had 'forgotten' to do up the top two buttons of her shirt.

_Excellent_.

Trying to hide her glee, the blonde asked, "Is everything alright Rei?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

_Back to indifference, hmm?_

"Rei, since you're back I'll be heading to my shift now." Ami said.

"Alright. Thanks for coming in."

"See you later Ami." Minako waved. The woman nodded, then left. An awkward silence promptly filled the void.

"Soooo…" Minako started, "Why were you late this morning? You aren't trying to avoid me again, are you?"

"As if. For your information I was meeting with a client."

"Yeah? About what?"

"It wasn't anything serious. Our previous client was concerned about how the news media was covering the arcade incident."

Minako furrowed her brow. Didn't count as serious? "So what did you do about it?"

"Well, first of all, it was only a tiny article in the back pages of the paper. It seems that two of the victims were still unconscious by the time the others came to so the manager called an ambulance."

"And?"

Rei shrugged. "The media was saying that the players collapsed due to dehydration so my guess is that the client didn't even bother to read the entire article before he called me."

"Fun stuff."

"Not particularly." Rei placed down her purse and withdrew an envelope. "But being paid wasn't bad."

Minako couldn't argue with that. She watched as her boss walked across the room and turned on the T.V.

"By the way, I brought you some coffee. It's on your desk, but it's been sitting there for awhile now so if you want something fresh you can grab a cup from the kitchen. Ami made a whole pot earlier. It's pretty good. I've already had a few cups myself."

And then a very interesting thing happened. Rei went into her office, retrieved the coffee cup, and then disappeared into the kitchen. The next thing Minako knew, she thought she heard the microwave running. After a 'ping' later, Rei reappeared with hot coffee in a regular mug.

"Um…Rei, did you just…microwave your coffee?"

The woman shrugged and took a sip. "It would be a waste to dump it just because it's cold." She said, her eyes never leaving the television screen.

"Huh." Now why did that sound familiar? "Hey, wait a sec-! I thought you said you didn't watch T.V."

"Just the news," she said casually. "It's useful in our line of work to keep up with the current events."

"I-Is that so?"

_I guess T.V dramas are out of the question then._

"Listen, I'm going to go and catch up on my mail but I'm going to leave this on. Tell me if anything interesting comes up, okay?"

"Interesting? Like what?"

"Like I said…interesting."

"Oh haha…"

Rei sauntered back to her office, leaving Minako to contemplate what that meant. Did she mean the 'sky is blue' kind of interesting or the prime minister saying 'uncle' kind of interesting? The television screen cut away to a female anchor. Behind her the video showed police setting up yellow tape in an area while other officers held back a curious crowd.

_"In what appeared to be a botched robbery quickly became the scene of a murder. At 10:00 PM yesterday evening, Naru Osaka was walking home when she was ambushed by three teenage girls. Eye-witness accounts say that the victim, Masato Sanjouin, tried to break up the fight when one of the girls pulled out a knife. Mr. Sanjouin suffered multiple stab wounds and was taken to the hospital in critical condition before he succumbed to his injuries."_

A picture of the boy appeared on screen. From the shoulder shot one could see that he had dark brown eyes, and short brown hair. He looked barely older than herself.

"Wow. That kind of sucks…" Minako said to no one in particular.

**Hospital – 8:15 AM**

* * *

The young man awoke with a start. A series of images rapidly flashed before his eyes, prompting him to cry out in terror.

"Hold him down!" Someone shouted.

Strong pairs of arms pressed down against his limbs. During the brief struggle he heard numerous low voices talking all around him. The blurry images came to focus and he quickly realized that he was surrounded by a crowd people dressed in scrubs.

"W-Where am I?" His eyes darted around until his gaze finally landed upon a man standing at the door. The doctor stepped inside and calmly took a seat beside him.

"How is he?" He asked in a mellow voice.

"Patient has low blood pressure. Appears disorientated." A staff member said.

The older man nodded. "Mr. Stanton, my name is Dr. Yamamoto. I am the doctor who has been treating you for these past six months. How do you feel?"

"Huh…? Sorry, who…?"

"I am Dr. Yamamoto."

"No, I mean…What did you call me?" The patient paused at the sound of his own voice. Why did it sound so deep?

"Mr. Stanton. Your name is Mr. Maxfield Stanton is it not? This was the information that we've obtained from your driver's license. Were we mistaken?"

"Yes. I-I think there's been some kind of mistake! My name isn't Stanton or whoever that is. I'm Masato! Masato Sanjouin."

He saw the medical personnel exchange uneasy looks.

"Mr. Stanton, please try to calm down. It's only natural that you would be confused. You might not remember this but you were in a car accident. You've been in a coma for six months."

_A car accident? Coma? _None of that sounded right. He tried to sit up and instantly felt light-headed and dizzy.

"Try not to move so fast," The doctor advised. "Physically you are very weak right now. But with some food and rest, I think you should be able to make a full recovery."

Needless to say, the encouragement didn't make him feel any better. After finishing their tests the staff left him alone to eat his snack. He stared at the food with a hungry but torn expression. The man, "Maxfield Stanton" raised his hands to the bundle of hair lying across his shoulder and held it up to his line of vision. It was long and red. Ignoring the doctor's orders, he pushed aside the tray and threw his legs over the side of the bed. With a little hop onto his feet, he was shocked when his legs suddenly buckled beneath him. Unable to catch himself in time he ended up lying sprawled on the floor. Heart pounding in his chest, he held his breath and waited to see if any of the staff would come. When nothing happened he painstakingly crawled to the bathroom. A jolt of anxiety shot through him as he reached for the light switch. Keeping his eyes steady with the mirror, he took a deep breath, then flipped the switch and finally saw what others had seen: A man in his mid-twenties, with long, wavy red hair and blue eyes.

His pupils constricted. A deep sounding roar tore from his throat and reverberated throughout the entire ward. Several nurses immediately rushed into the room.

"What's wrong?!" He turned to face them and they froze.

_What…the hell is THIS?!_

Shakily he got to his feet and stepped towards the frightened group. "Did you do this to me?"

"W-What?"

"You did this to me, didn't you?! Answer me!"

"Look Sir, you really need to calm down!"

"Calm?! I'll show you-" His voice was cut off when two men rushed into the room and shoved him hard into the wall. He easily threw them off though. The women were screaming but he didn't care. Three more personnel came in and with a combined effort they finally held him long enough to inject the medication. There was a prick and then the world slipped away.

When the man came to he was back in bed. He tried to sit up but a strong tug held him back – peering over, he saw that his arms had been strapped to the bed posts. He let out a sigh. How long had he been out?

A nurse holding a tray entered the room. However, when their eyes met she noticeably flinched. He suddenly felt ashamed of his earlier behaviour.

"Is that lunch?" He asked in a soft voice. She nodded. "That's good. I didn't get to finish my snack earlier so I'm kind of starving." The nurse approached the bed and placed down the tray. "You know, I'm really sorry about earlier. I just don't know what'd gotten into me."

"Well, you sure gave us all a scare, that's for sure. Listen, I'm going to untie these now. But you have to understand that you'll need to behave if you don't want to be tied down again."

"Mm. I understand."

She was about to leave when he stopped her.

"Miss?"

"Yes? Is there something else?"

"What color are my eyes?"

She looked at him quizzically. "They're blue."

"And my hair?"

"Red."

He let out a long sigh. "It's strange isn't it?"

Her eyes suddenly lit up. "I don't think it's strange at all. We are who we are, right?"

He wanted to cry right now.

"You know, why don't you watch some T.V while you eat? Maybe it'll cheer you up." She turned on the T.V, but her face fell a little at the lack of response. "Well, I hope you feel better soon. Things will get better. If you need anything, you can always use the call bell."

After she left he reluctantly began to tuck into his food.

_"In what appeared to be a botched robbery quickly became the scene of a murder…"_

**Hino Paranormal Investigation Office – 12:25 PM**

* * *

On her fourth cup of coffee, Minako was buzzing. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. Her heart was racing 100 mph and she couldn't stop twitching. Her leg briefly stopped bouncing when she heard Rei's office door open.

"Hey Rei, what's up?" she said casually.

"Just work as usual. How's the report coming along?"

"It's…coming. I think I'm about halfway done."

"I see. Do you plan on doing it all by hand?"

"Well, how else am I going to do it? In case you haven't noticed my computer isn't exactly working right now."

"You could use the office laptop."

There was a long pause. Rei was smiling. Minako smiled back.

_WHY YOU-_

"In any case, there's a password on it and I'll have to look it up so I'm afraid it will have to wait until I get back."

"You don't say. Where're you headed?"

"Sorry, but that's for me to know."

"Does it have anything to do with another case?"

Rei seemed to catch the hopefulness in her tone. "I don't know." She said. "But if you're asking if you can come along then the answer is no. Actually, there's something that I need you to do for me."

"Yeah…?"

"I need this document to be mailed to this address."

Minako suspiciously eyed the brown envelope pushed towards her. "That's it?"

"That's it."

"Does it need to be done right away?"

"Preferably before I get back. So…call it two hours?"

That was slightly less promising than what she had anticipated, but okay. "Sure, no problem...Boss."

"Excellent. I'll be heading out then."

"Okaaaaay…Come back soon."

The raven-haired woman stopped at the door. "I just thought of something else."

"Did you forget something?"

"No." Her eyes dropped. "You… really need to do something about that."

Minako looked down to her still bouncing leg.

"It's a work in progress ok?"

Rei shook her head. She locked the office door and the blonde was suddenly by her lonesome. Minako couldn't believe that woman! She knew that there was a laptop and she- Minako grabbed her notes and came to her senses just before she started ripping them to shreds. Okay, so maybe she was a little high strung. And why couldn't she stop twitching?!

"You know what? I need a break." She grabbed the envelope. "Mail stupid Rei's stupid-"

She stood up and there was that familiar feeling again.

_After another trip to the bathroom._

**Hospital – 1:12 PM**

* * *

Ami waited by the front entrance lost in her thoughts. Everything had been going so well and then this happens.

"_You said it involved one of your patient's right? I know you said you couldn't talk about it, but I've been thinking…was it a __**possess-**__"_

She remembered a shadow towering over her and the strong grip that squeezed against her neck. It kept getting tighter and tighter - she couldn't breathe. The sound of a car door slamming shut drew her attention. The moment she saw her friend the darkness fell away.

"Rei…"

"Sorry, I got here as soon as I could. Are you alright? What happened?"

She met Rei's concerned eyes and simply stared for a moment. "I'm not really sure," she said, once she had found her voice again. Ami shook her head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be confusing. What I mean is, right now, I don't think anyone knows what's going on. But from what I've heard..."

"You think it's like last time."

She averted her gaze. "Maybe? I don't know. Maybe I'm just being paranoid."

"Ami, you're the last person I'd think is paranoid."

A part of her scoffed at that. "But what if is just a coincidence?" It was frustrating. Didn't Rei understand? She did. Of course, Rei always did. And she hated herself for putting her friend back into that position because of her own insecurity.

"If it's just a coincidence…then that's all it is. Ami, we've been working together for over a year now. If you think there's a potential issue then it doesn't hurt to have it checked out. We're a team now, remember?"

The reason why she had joined Rei's company…

"Yeah. You're right, sorry."

"Okay. So are you going to fill me in?"

"I can do better than that. I'll show you."

They stepped inside with Rei following her lead.

"You didn't bring Minako?"

"She's back at the office. I gave her something to do before I left so that should keep her busy for awhile."

"I see. That was a good idea."

"Mhm."

"Anyway, we're almost there. It's just up ahead." The girls finally came across the room. At the doorway, Ami turned and faced her friend. "This is it." Without saying a word Rei stepped inside. For the most part the room looked neat and tidy. However, there was a tray on the floor and a splatter of food not far from it.

"It looks like someone didn't care for their lunch." Rei dryly observed.

"I guess so." A little nervously, she then asked, "Do you sense anything?"

"No. If there was anything here, it's gone now."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"I see..."

"Ami, do you know who the patient was in this room?"

"Hm? Oh. His name is Maxfield Stanton. It's my understanding that he was a coma patient here for the last few months. Apparently, he just regained consciousness this morning."

"Is that so?" Rei said thoughtfully. "Was he acting strange or something when he woke up?"

The question bothered her. "You don't have to worry about my feelings, Rei. I'm fine. If you're asking whether he was violent, then from what I heard I think so. I'm not quite clear on what he did but I heard from a friend on the ward that it took five personnel to sedate him this morning."

"Hmph. Pretty strong for someone who was just in a coma."

"There was another thing. When he woke up…I heard that he was convinced that he was someone else."

"Someone else? Did he say who?"

"My friend mentioned it but I'm afraid I don't remember the name. I think it started with an M? Misa? Anyway, I remember her saying that it wasn't possible because that person had already passed away."

"I see… Can I talk to this friend?"

"I'm sorry but she's off on break right now."

"Maybe I can talk to the patient then. Where did they move him?"

That's where Ami started to feel very uncomfortable. "They didn't move him, Rei."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…he got up and left all by himself. No one knows where he is he right now."

"Do you think he left the hospital?"

"I don't know. They've been calling him over the intercom for the last while but like I said, no one knows where he is. So I guess it is possible that he left the building."

"Okay. Well, we still have the patient's name so I'm going to run it by a contact and see what they can dig up on this guy. If you feel comfortable with staying here maybe you can get some more information from your friend when she gets back."

"Okay. I'll do that."

Rei stepped forward. As she was about to pass by Ami felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry. We'll figure this out."

"Yeah. See you in a bit."

**Downtown – 2:05 PM**

* * *

"There! All done." Minako said and clapped her hands in satisfaction. With the mission complete it was time to head back to home base. Albeit, with one quick detour; it was so hot today that she felt like she was going to melt on the sidewalk. The blonde made a beeline towards the nearest vending machine, purchased a bottled water and greedily gulped it down.

"Ah...! Now that hits the spot!" Water was officially her new favorite drink. Feeling refreshed, Minako was about to go on her merry way when her hottie alert suddenly went off.

_Oh. Hellooooooooo…_

The presumed 'hottie' had his back against a wall with his shirt hanging wide open. His chin was tilted up and the way the sunlight hit his pale skin and his long, wavy red hair almost made him sparkle. He was hot. No, like, seriously hot. Now that Minako thought about it, he wasn't looking so good-

_**Thud.**_

_Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh?!_

"Oh my God! W-What should I do? Should I call an ambulance? Hey! Are you alright?!"

She heard a groan in response. Whew, that was a relief. At least he was still alive. Her heart leapt into her throat when he suddenly grabbed her arm. "H-Hey! What are you doing?!" Minako had half a mind to give him the boot when she heard mumbling.

"W-Water…"

Well, she couldn't very well leave him there. Taking pity on the guy Minako helped him to some nearby shade and watched as he downed what was left of her water. Since there wasn't much left to begin with, she ended up buying him a second one and watched as he glugged that down as well.

"Wow. You sure are thirsty aren't you?"

Seconds later the stranger let out a refreshing, "Ah!" Seeing that the bottle was now empty he put it down by his side. "That's so much better. Thank you very much! If you hadn't come along when you did I don't know what would have happened."

"Yeeeah…" Probably nothing good, she figured. "I gotta admit - you sure took me by surprise there. It isn't every day that I see people fainting from heat stroke."

The stranger chuckled at that. "Are you a nurse or something?"

"Me? Nooo…there's no way."

"Is that so? Then what do you do? Are you still a student?"

"No… but it's…eh, what I do is kind of complicated."

"I see."

"But anyway…" Minako's words trailed off when she noticed something. Now that she thought about it, didn't he look unexpectedly thin in some places?

"Is something wrong?" He asked.

"No, not really, but…I don't mean to pry but are you sure you're feeling alright?" He looked at her quizzically. She briefly wondered it if would be alright to broach the subject. "It's just that, you look kind of pale."

"Huh? Really?" He held out his hands to look at them. Oddly enough he was looking at them as if he was seeing them for the first time. "Huh… I guess you're right. I do look a little pale, don't I? To be honest with you, I haven't been very well as of late."

"I see. That's too bad. Were you sick or something?"

"It's something like that, yeah," he smiled. "I was in the hospital for awhile so I guess that's why I've lost some weight and such."

_Ah._

"Does that mean that you're better now?"

A mix of emotions swirled in his dark blue eyes. "To be honest…I'm not really sure. Everything just happened so fast. You know, I just started a new job so I thinking about moving out on own…Maybe start saving up so I could travel a bit. But now…" He lifted his head and looked her in the eye. The intensity of his gaze in that moment strangely reminded her of Rei's. "This might be a pointless question, but… Have you ever felt afraid of the future?"

Minako blinked. "Yeah, of course," she said automatically. "I mean, doesn't everyone?"

"But what if-" He suddenly stopped mid-sentence as if he had changed mind about something. "Sorry, never mind. That must've sounded really strange."

It made Minako wonder: Was his prognosis really that bad? "No, it's okay. I get it." She saw the confused look and quickly elaborated: "Well, about wondering the future I mean. To be honest, I think when bad things happen it's only natural to wonder if things are going to get better. But as to what you're going through right now…I can't pretend to understand that but I do hope that things will get better for you soon."

His eyes widened a little. For a moment he seemed speechless. "Yeah…I hope so too." He said.

Minako glanced down at her watch and nearly shrieked when she saw the time. "Omigosh! I'm late. Oooh…my boss is going to kill me!" She leapt up and hurriedly wiped down her skirt. The stranger calmly stood up and handed the blonde her purse.

"Sorry. If I had known I wouldn't have kept you. Thank you very much for your help once again."

"Hey, don't worry about it. These things happen. Anyway, you don't need me to tell you this but try not to overdo it okay? Even if you go at a slow pace that's fine too y'know?"

He chuckled. "I'll try not to. In fact, I was thinking of going to see my parents today."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. They live across the river."

"That's kind of far. I hope you're not planning on walking the entire way," she joked. She waited for the denial but when the man smiled apologetically she couldn't help but let out a loud sigh of exasperation. "Seriously?"

"Sorry, but I don't have any money on me."

Figures, he was hot but broke. Ah well, she guess it couldn't be helped. She pulled out enough change for a bus fare and handed it to him.

"Here, take it."

"Oh, but I couldn't!"

"Take it. I insist. I would feel really bad if you fainted again."

The man finally relented. As he reached out to take the coins, Minako was surprised when he suddenly clasped her hand with both of his. "Um-! You know…Thank you. This means a lot to me."

"W-What are you saying? It's not I did anything special." She was sure that her ears were burning red right now.

"I swear. I'll pay you back someday."

"No, no, that's not necessary. Really… A-Anyway, I better get going."

"Can I at least know your name?"

"It's Mina…"

He gave her a bright smile. "Ok. See you then, Mina."

**Hino Paranormal Investigation Office – 2:50 PM**

* * *

By the time Minako returned to the office she still couldn't get the red-haired stranger out of her mind. She couldn't imagine what he had been through, but the way he had looked at her - despite the sadness and doubt in his eyes he still tried to mask it all with a smile. It bothered her. Realizing that she was only making herself upset, she shook away the thoughts. She had a new life now and that's all there was to it.

Minako's steps slowed to a stop when she realized that the office door was propped open.

_Oh shit-_

Her fears were confirmed when she saw that Rei was back. The raven-haired woman was sitting on one of the sofas in the client area. In the seat across from her there sat a girl with shoulder-length red hair.

"Minako. So you're finally back. Did you know that Ms. Osaka here has been waiting outside of our office for nearly an hour?"

"I-I'm sorry! But there's a really good reason for that. You see there was this guy, and-" The blonde wilted under that sharp look.

"We'll talk about it later. In the meantime, please shut the door."

"Yes Ma'am." Great, now she was really going to get it. Minako did as Rei requested, and when the woman didn't give any further instruction she awkwardly stood by the door.

"So, Ms. Osaka, as you were saying before the interruption… What brings you in today?"

"Well, you see…" She started. Her voice was so soft that Minako struggled to hear her. "I'm not sure if you've seen the news, but there was a boy who was murdered recently."

"I think I've heard of it. From what I understand, a girl was being assaulted and the victim happened to be nearby when it happened. I heard he tried to step in and stop it, only he ended up dying as a result."

The red-headed girl noticeably tensed up at the comment.

_Wait._ Minako gasped. "Hold on. Are you saying that you were involved with that incident? Then you must be…"

Rei turned her attention back to the girl. "Correct me if I'm wrong Ms. Osaka, but the girl who was attacked…It was you, wasn't it?"

The girl looked up with watery eyes. "Yes," she whispered. "And because of me, he's dead." Her voice cracked and she broke down into sobs. Feeling bad for the girl, Minako went to grab her some tissues. Rei waited until the girl had calmed down a bit before she continued the interview.

"So, what exactly is your relationship to the victim if you don't mind me asking?"

"That's just the thing. I didn't know him at all." She sniffed. "He just happened to be nearby when it happened I guess. I just feel terrible about the whole thing. I can't sleep…and I feel like I'm always about to cry."

"So you feel guilty."

_Jeez Rei! Obviously. A little more compassion wouldn't hurt you would it?_

Rei scribbled something down into her notebook. "From the sounds of it, the culprits have already been arrested and charged. So, what do you hope we can do for you? I should also make this clear but we cannot bring the dead back to life."

"I understand." She said. After taking a steadying breath, she said in a shaky voice, "What…What I'd like to do is to contact Masato."

"The victim?"

She nodded.

"Why?"

"I just – I just wanted to thank him. And to apologize. You see, I was there when they took him away. I could have said anything to him then but…but my voice wouldn't come out. So that's why, when I heard that people can do a séance to communicate with the dead, I just thought that maybe…"

"I wouldn't advise it." The icy edge in Rei's voice caught Minako's attention.

"But why not? Is it not possible?"

"I didn't say that it wasn't. However, there are a few things that you should consider. For one thing, he may have already found peace. Are you willing to try and call him back just so you can relieve some of your guilt?"

"What?"

"A second thing. When you're trying to summon something from the other side there is always the chance that something else can come through. If you attempt a séance, you won't only be endangering your own safety but the lives of others who take part in it as well. In short, doing something like would not only be selfish but it would also show disrespect to that person's sacrifice."

Naru looked to be the verge of crying again.

"Rei? Maybe you should…"

"Ms. Osaka." The exorcist said, bringing the whole room to silence. In a slightly softer tone, she continued, "While I understand that this whole ordeal has been difficult for you, I'm afraid that we cannot comply with your request. In this case, I think it would be best if you tried to move on, for both your sake and his."

Naru stood up, tears falling down her face, as she hastily excused herself. When the door closed the room was left in an awkward silence. After everything she had witnessed, Minako felt a swell of indignation rise within her chest.

"That was really mean…" the blonde said in a low voice. Rei glanced her way.

"It had to be said."

"But you didn't have to say it like that! I mean – jeez! She was crying." She hoped that would emphasize her point but Rei didn't even blink an eye.

"What she was asking for was both stupid and selfish. Understandable, but it's still selfish nonetheless. The dead are not our playthings."

"Yeah, but-"

"But what?"

"It's just I don't think-"

"Look Minako, if my way of dealing with clients offends you then-"

"Would you just shut up for a moment?!" Minako snapped. Rei's eyes briefly widened in surprise before her expression became cross again. "You're the boss, I get it. You're really good at what you do and you know what? I respect you for it. But if you think you can just keep interrupting me and pushing me around, like you did with Naru just now, then I'm afraid this arrangement isn't going to work."

Rei stood up and slowly stepped over to where she stood. When those intense amethyst eyes met hers Minako felt a sliver of fear of what the other woman was going to do to her.

"So what's your point?" Rei asked.

With dark-haired beauty so close to her the blonde tried to remember exactly that. Oh, yes. She remembered now.

"I don't know. I just think that you should try to be a little more considerate of other people's feelings. Like you said, even if something needs to be said there are different ways of saying the same thing, right? As for me, I would really appreciate it if you didn't try to interrupt me all the time. I mean… you don't treat Ami like that, do you?"

There was an unreadable expression on Rei's face. "No, I suppose not. Perhaps…I could have handled that better."

"Great! Now that's all sorted out, I guess I better get back to work."

"Hold on. Where do you think you're going?"

"Um…"

"I believe you still owe me an explanation. Why were you late?"

_Oh yeah. That._

"What do you mean? I went to deliver that letter like you asked."

"Don't play coy with me. There's no way that should've taken an hour. What were you saying again? Something about a guy? I'm not paying you to flirt with people, Minako."

"Woah, hold it. Time out! There was no flirting involved. Well, from my side anyway." Rei arched an eyebrow. Now that Minako thought about it, how dare Rei doubt her! She wasn't the type of blonde to chase after every attractive thing she saw. "Okay, this is what happened. I mailed your letter and I was on my way back when this guy fainted in front of me. Now when I said that he was hot, I meant _really _hot. Like, he had long, wavy red hair and gorgeous blue eyes. He was also really tall and super buff. And the way he held my hands and looked deeply in my eyes-"

"Minako…"

Hearing the annoyance in Rei's voice made the blonde internally smirk. "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry. Guess I got carried away~. Well, anyway, he fainted so I helped him to some shade. And then he ended up drinking all of my water so….yeah, that's about it. That's why I was late."

"So he fainted because it was hot outside?" Rei asked with a deadpanned expression.

"Or…maybe he didn't have a handkerchief and he wanted to get my attention." She sensed the annoyance soar to new levels and quickly backtracked. "Ok, ok, take a chill pill and relax. I'm just kidding. Yeah, I think he fainted because of the heat. To be honest, it really surprised me. I wasn't sure if I would have to call an ambulance."

"So why didn't you?"

"Because…he said he was fine?" She heard her boss sigh. "Alright, fine. The next time some drop-dead gorgeous guy falls at my feet I'll call an ambulance." The blonde made her way over to the T.V. "Anyway, how did _your_ outing go?"

"It wasn't anything special. There might have been a potential case-"

"Hah! I called it."

Rei coughed. "As I was saying, we're still waiting for some information so until then there's not a lot we can do about it."

"Hmm…" Minako was partially distracted by the news channel. This time the anchor woman was talking about a missing person case. She was about to go back to work until she saw _his _picture.

"No way!" she gasped.

"What's wrong?"

"It's him!" She pointed at the screen. "That's the guy I was talking about! The guy that fainted."

The ghost hunter's eyes narrowed. "Are you sure that's him?"

"Definitely. I also remember because I gave him some money for the bus."

"Really. Did he say where he was going?"

"Oh. Well, just to see his parents I think… He said they lived across the river."

"I see." Rei said thoughtfully. "Minako, turn off the T.V and get ready to go. After I make a few calls, we're leaving."

"Leaving? But where- Wait, are we going to go after him? I know he's missing and all but don't you think this is something for the police to handle?"

"That depends."

"On what?"

Instead of answering Rei chose to go off and do whatever she was about to do, leaving Minako to scratch her head at the cryptic response. It didn't make any sense. What did a missing person have to do with the paranormal?

**River Southside – 4:17 PM**

* * *

Masato Sanjouin walked down the route that he used to take home every day from school. Even though he had only done the act a couple of days ago, today it felt different. At that time, he could only think about how tired he was. Every day it was all about having to work harder, and every day he would come home late – tired and hungry. If he had known that those days would have been his last, he would have gone home earlier and had dinner with his parents. And afterwards, he would have talked with his dad and told him how sorry he was for all of the things that he said. Masato was shaken of his thoughts when he realized where he was. Standing in front of the gate to his house, he could see light coming from the kitchen window. The urge to run up and bang on the door was strongly countered by reality. There was no way his parents would believe that he was still alive, let alone in a stranger's body. He looked up at the windows again. He didn't know how much time had passed but the next thing he knew, he was standing on the front doorstep and reaching out. The 'ding' from the doorbell startled him. But before he could think another thought, the door swung open and 'she' was standing before him.

_Mom._

He stepped forward intending to hug her when he caught himself. His mother's suspicious look felt like a stab to the heart.

"Can I help you?" she asked warily.

"Hello Miss. My name is…Maxfield Stanton. I'm a friend of Masato's. We used to play soccer together. I had heard what happened in the news so I thought I'd drop by to pay my respects."

The woman nodded slightly then opened the door to let him in. She led him to the living room where her husband was. The older man was sitting at a table with his back turned to them. On the table's surface, one could see a number of photographs laid out on it.

"Dear, this is one of Masato's friends." The man gave no reaction. "I'll go make some tea. Please, have a seat."

"Thank you."

Masato slowly approached the table and took the seat across from his father. Now that he was closer he could see that all of the photos were of himself when he was younger.

"So, you're a friend of my son, hm?" The man said in a gruff voice.

"Yes sir."

"How did you two meet?"

"We met through a mutual friend." Actually it was the day he had met his friend Tatsuya. "Tatsuya and Masato used to go kick ball after work so one day Tatsuya invited me to come along. That's where I met Masato." His father looked up at that. The disapproval in his eyes was clear.

"Don't you think you're kind of old to be playing a children's sport?" He asked.

The words stung. Masato felt a shadow of resentment from their last argument but he didn't come here today to continue that fight.

"Heh, do you really think so? But if one loves something then it would be a shame to give it up. At least, that's what Masato always said."

"Did he now?"

"Mm. I'm sure you already know this, but he seemed to love soccer more than anything. We watched a lot of games together. He had…even hoped to go see the world cup in person one day."

"Sounds like him…" The man said quietly. "Always wasting time when he should have being studying."

At that point his mother returned with the tea. Masato was at a loss. So he was surprised the man presented a photo to him.

"This is a photo of my son when he younger. Do you know when this was taken?"

He did, of course, but he answered no. He handed the photograph back to the couple and was once again surprised when he saw his mother's face soften upon seeing the picture.

"It was when Masato was in high school." She said, perhaps more to herself than to him. "His team had won the divisional championship that year."

"Oh. I see."

"My son scored the winning goal." His father added. And this time, there was a hint of pride in his voice.

"I'm not surprised. He was a good player. He never said why he quit though." 'Maxfield' said.

His parents exchanged silent looks to one another. His mother was the first to speak.

"Well, I guess you could say we had a part in it."

"Hmm…My son was an OK soccer player. However, there was a lot that he could have improved on." His father mused aloud. Upon hearing that it took Masato everything he had not to raise his voice.

"So you thought he wasn't good enough? Is that why you wanted him to quit?"

"No." It was with that 'no' that the atmosphere in the room suddenly changed. "I knew that my son loved to play soccer. He was the type of person to chase after anything that caught his interest. But making a career out of soccer…there are a number of risks that I don't think he considered seriously. What if he tried out and didn't make it? He would be years behind his peers, and catching up would be very difficult."

"But what if he made it?"

The man gave him a hard stare. "If he made it, then perhaps that would be even worse. As you must know, soccer is a very physical sport. What happens if you become injured and can't play anymore? It's not a career that one could easily continue into old age either." Masato opened his mouth to protest but the old man would have none of it. "I don't expect you to understand, but Masato was our only child. His mother and I will not be around forever. If something were to go wrong, we may not be able to help him. That's why, in my personal opinion, I thought it would be best if he quit soccer and instead worked towards getting a more stable job with a steady income. I thought that this would provide him with a better life. But now…"

Masato heard a dip in his tone and looked up.

"He's gone. My son is gone." The pain on his father's face caused his own heart to twist. "If I had known… if I could have him back, I would have let him play the damn sport."

There were no words to describe how he felt in that moment. The anger and bitterness that he had once felt towards his family was washed away and quickly replaced by guilt. He had caused this; it was because of him that his parents grieved. He wanted to reach out and tell them that he was here, that everything was alright, but deep inside he was afraid of their reactions and did not want to risk losing what little contact he had with them. So he did the next best thing.

"You know… I think Masato would have understood why you did what you did. It may not be my place to say this, but I think he loved both of you very much. He often spoke about how much he admired his father. He said he was strict, and… even though he sometimes said hurtful things, he knew that he cared." At this point, the tears began to collect in the old man's eyes. "And, he couldn't have asked for a better mother, who was always there to take care of him when he was sick or bring his lunch to school when he forgot it. He loved you… If he was here, I'm sure he would tell you that himself."

His throat became so tight that he was unable to speak further. Through the tears blurring his vision he could see both of his parents holding hands and comforting each other as their emotions overtook their normally reserved expressions. Masato blinked and felt the warm tears finally spill over. He didn't think it would be this hard.

**Across Town – 5:07 PM**

* * *

Minako sat in the back of the car, still full of questions. They had left the office so suddenly and without any explanation – it made the blonde wonder if this was a common occurrence that something that she should get used to. Minako looked out the window and watched the passing scenery for a few seconds when she realized something.

"Hey, Rei? Aren't we going to wrong way?"

"We're going to pick up Ami first." The woman replied.

"But- If we're going after that guy, wouldn't it be faster if we went there ourselves?"

"It would be, but it's important that Ami comes along too."

Minako's brow furrowed at that. "Why's that? Is that guy really that dangerous?"

"It's hard to say at this point."

That phrase was really starting to get on Minako's nerves. "You keep saying that but I don't get what the big deal is! He's just an ordinary guy."

Rei didn't answer immediately. "He might not be." She finally said in a quiet tone. Minako did a double take on that.

"Huh?"

"That person that you met is a patient from the hospital that Ami works at. His name is Maxfield Stanton. He's not very well known over here but my sources tell me that he's a con-man from England. Anyway, he was apparently involved in a car crash nearly half a year ago. The last that anyone heard of him, he was in a coma in the hospital."

Minako was taken aback by all the information she was hearing. Was the person she met really a con-man? He if was, then was their entire conversation an act?

"So he's a con-man." Minako said flatly. She was still a little upset that she had been duped. "So we're chasing criminals now?"

"That's the thing…We're not entirely sure if it's Mr. Stanton in that body. That is to say, we have reasons to believe that his body is being manipulated by a spirit."

"You mean…he's being possessed?"

"It's possible, yes."

Minako sunk back into her seat in thought. "So what's the plan?"

"We'll talk about it after we pick up Ami."

They soon swung by the hospital and picked up the part-time doctor. When Ami stepped into the car, Minako had been ready to greet her. However, one look at the girl made her change her mind; she couldn't quite pin-point what it was, but she got the feeling that Ami wasn't in a good mood.

"Hey. Thanks for coming to get me." Ami said as she sat down.

"It's okay. By the way, I brought Minako."

The mention of the blonde's name seemed to surprise the blue-haired woman. Ami automatically turned around in her seat to look behind her.

"Hey…" Minako said weakly.

"Oh. Hey." Within a blink an eye her hard expression was replaced by small smile. "Sorry, I didn't see you there."

"It's okay."

"I was just filling her in on the situation." Rei informed her.

"I see."

Minako couldn't see it, but she had the feeling that the two were taking part in a silent conversation.

"Isn't that right, Minako?"

"What? Oh! Yeah, that's right. Rei was saying that the guy we're looking for is a patient from your hospital, and that he might be possessed."

"Hmm…that sounds like it in a nutshell." Ami said thoughtfully. "Did Rei also tell you that he was a coma patient?"

"Yeah, but… I guess that's the part I don't quite understand. How can you tell if someone's been possessed?"

"Well, from what I understand, you usually can't. To be honest, we don't run into these cases very often. At least, I haven't. What about you, Rei?"

"I've seen a few, but in terms of coma cases I've only seen one. You see… even if someone falls unconscious their soul still remains inside the body. So if a spirit wants to possess that body they will have to fight the soul already in it."

"I see."

"Makes sense, right?" Ami said. "In our case, our guy has been asleep for six months but when he woke up today he thought he was someone else."

"So?"

"Minako, does the name Masato Sanjouin mean anything to you?" Rei asked.

Actually, it did. "Wait. Wasn't he the guy who was murdered?"

"Interestingly enough, that's who our patient thought he was when he woke up. Ami has a friend who works on the ward and she said that he was rather insistent about it."

_So he died. _That scenario made a lot more sense given the context of their conversation.

"Rei, you said you saw a case like this in the past. What happened in that one?"

There was a heavy silence in the car. When Rei spoke again, there was an air of reservation in her voice.

"The patient was possessed by a violent spirit and went on a rampage. Several people were killed, and a large number were injured. In the end, we exorcised it."

"When you say 'we', you mean you and Ami?"

"Something like that."

"Wow. That sounds terrible. But you know… I didn't get that vibe from the guy we're looking for."

"You saw him?" Ami asked in a surprised voice.

"Yeah. We ran into each other this afternoon when I went to drop off the mail for Rei. But he didn't do anything to me! We just had a talk, that's all."

"About what?"

"I dunno…stuff? He seemed really nice."

She could see the disbelief playing in Ami's blue eyes. "Minako, you don't know this but when he woke up he assaulted the hospital staff. It took five people to sedate him. He's dangerous!"

"Well maybe he was just scared." She said defensively.

That seemed to catch Rei's attention. "Why would you say that?"

"Because…" Minako hesitated under Ami's gaze. "Because, when we talked it sounded like he was afraid. I think he was afraid of the future. Also, he said that he was going to see his parents so, I don't know, but, if he's really the boy that was murdered then maybe he just wants to go home."

"Even if that's true he can't be allowed to possess another person's body." Rei said finally. "Even if the man is a criminal, it rightfully belongs to him."

"I know, but…" Minako felt defeated. Of course, Rei was right, but she didn't think the situation was fair. "You know, it's kind of funny. You told Naru that Masato might already be at peace, but wouldn't it be weird if those two ran into each other?"

"Was that the girl who visited the office today?" Ami asked.

"Yeah." Minako nodded. "Hey, Rei?"

"What is it?"

"If Masato meets up with Naru, do you think he'll be able to move on?"

Minako couldn't see it, but Rei's jaw tightened momentarily. "I don't know. But if it is Mr. Sanjouin in that body then it would be better if they didn't meet."

"Why's that?"

"It would complicate things," Ami answered.

The answer was obvious. She knew that; if they were going to exorcise Masato then it would probably be best if Naru never knew. However, the thought of killing him like she had seen Rei do to others several times before brought goosebumps to her arms. If only he was a big scary monster - then she wouldn't have to feel this way.

**River Southside – 8:30 PM**

* * *

Come evening, the sky had become overcast. After promising his parents that he would visit again, Masato departed from the only place that he knew as home. Admittedly, he hadn't planned this far ahead and didn't know where to go next. But glancing up at the threatening sky overhead, he knew that he would need to find a place to stay soon.

Lost in his thoughts he eventually came across a familiar cross-walk.

_This place…_

The memories were flooding back now. That day had also been very similar to today. He had been walking home from work. It had been late, and he had been so very tired. But that's when he noticed her – a girl with shoulder length red hair. She had been standing in the rain alone while waiting for the bus. Although he had felt bad that she had no umbrella to shield herself with his gut told him it would best not to get involved; there was a depressing air about her. And that's when it happened.

Masato was shaken out of his thoughts when he noticed someone up ahead. He recognized her instantly. For a moment, he didn't know what to do. He was simply drawn to her.

The girl looked up as he approached. He could see that she had a bouquet of flowers in her hand. They stared at one another until she looked away uncomfortably.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," he said, hoping to ease some of the tension. "Those flowers…"

"Oh, these?" As if suddenly remembering that she had them, she took out a ribbon and tied them to the lamp-post.

"Did something happen here?" He asked again.

"Mm." she nodded. "A boy died here. Well, not exactly here, but this is where he was injured."

He remembered that part quite well. The screams, the feeling of the blade as it pierced his chest over and over again. In his last moments his consciousness had faded in and out, and with the thought of wondering if he was going to die he had seen her crying face.

"That sounds terrible. If you don't mine me asking, did you know him personally?"

She shook her head. "No, I didn't. But it's my fault that he died."

That took him by surprise. "What do you mean by that?"

Naru squeezed her hands together. "There were a few girls who tried to rob me that day. They wanted my purse. I didn't have very much in it but it was a gift from my mom so I didn't want to give it up. But if I had just given it to them… then that boy wouldn't have tried to save me. He would still be alive now."

Masato didn't know what to say. Soon he heard light sobs and realized that she was crying. Without thinking he reached out and cupped her face. Her eyes were red and tears were falling down her cheeks, but despite that she still somehow looked beautiful.

"Hey, you shouldn't be beating yourself up," he said in a gentle voice and proceeded to whip the tears away with his hand. "No one could have predicted what would happen. For all you know, those girls could have hurt you even if you had given them your purse."

"But that would have been better! It would have been better if I had died instead!"

Masato grabbed her shoulders, almost harshly. "No, it wouldn't! There's no way he would have wanted that."

With her voice breaking, she said, "There's no way you could know that."

"Actually…yes I can."

She stared up at him, eyes full of questions. He didn't know whether it was Fate that brought him here, but he now realized that he wasn't the only one who seeking peace because of his death. Perhaps that was why he didn't move on. Masato swallowed thickly and took the plunge.

"Listen…I'm glad that you're safe."

"I-I'm sorry, but have we met before?"

"I know this is going to sound crazy and hard to believe, but it's me…I'm Masato Sanjouin. I'm the boy who saved you."

Naru blinked. He could see the fear rapidly growing in her green eyes. "No. No, that's impossible."

"I'm telling you, it's the truth! I know my appearance has changed but-"

"Stop it! You think this is funny?! You're not him!"

She pushed him away and tried to run but Masato was faster. He caught her by the arm and pulled her against his chest. As expected, she struggled.

"Somebody, help! Help me!"

"You have to believe me, I'm telling you the truth! Don't you remember? When that girl pulled out that knife, I tackled her from behind. I told you to run, remember?"

The girl's struggles abated slightly, but before he could get another word out he felt a threatening presence approaching them. Naru stopped moving altogether when she saw who it was.

The raven-haired girl in question didn't say a word, but there was something about her eyes that he didn't like. He turned his head, looking for an exit, but realized too late that they were surrounded. There was a blue-haired woman was at his back and… His eyes widened when he recognized the long, blonde-haired woman standing off to the side.

"It's you… You're that girl from before." It didn't take much to piece two and two together. She was obviously with the other two girls. He turned his attention back to the dark-haired girl in front of him. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"Those are good questions." She said. "But don't you think you should be the one to answer that?"

"What?"

"You just said it yourself. Your name is not Maxfield Stanton, the original owner of that body… but rather, you claim to be Masato Sanjouin, the boy who was fatally injured at this crosswalk."

"W-What are you talking about?" Naru stuttered. "There's no way he's…" She looked back and forth between the man holding her and the paranormal investigator. When no one admitted to the joke, the red-head's face slowly settled into shock.

"Since you already know who I am, shouldn't you also introduce yourself?"

"My name is Rei Hino. I am the lead investigator for the Hino Paranormal Investigation Office. These two are Minako Aino and Ami Mizuno, my associates."

"You're all paranormal investigators?" Masato asked in surprise. "Well…if there are such things as ghosts, then I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that there are ghost hunters as well."

"Let's cut to the chase then, shall we? How did you get that body?"

He straightened up a little and finally released Naru. As a ghost coming into contact with a ghost hunter, he concluded that this spiralling sense of fear for his safety was only natural. Strangely enough though, he also felt a sense of relief that someone was finally going to believe his story.

"To be honest… I don't really know. The last thing I remember, is that I was lying there," he pointed to a patch of concrete. "I was bleeding out…. I thought I was going to die. Everything went black and the next thing I knew, when I came to I was…like…this."

"_I don't want to die."_

"Is that all?"

He wasn't sure what she meant by that. "Well, after I left the hospital I went to see my parents…"

"That's not what I meant. Before you woke up, did you hear anything?"

"I'm sorry, but you've totally lost me. Like I said, I just woke up like this."

"I see." She gave him a hard, searching look. Masato wasn't sure what she was looking for but it wasn't before long she spoke up again. "As I thought… it seems that the soul of the original owner is gone."

Masato was taken aback. He had been too busy pitying himself that he never considered the person whose body he'd stolen. "Was that…my fault?" He couldn't help but ask.

"If you didn't feel any resistance when you inherited that body, then it's likely that the soul was already gone."

"Ah. I see." Masato honestly couldn't remember but he desperately hoped that was the case.

"Mr. Sanjouin…"

"Yes?"

"You realize that you've already died, correct?"

"Yes."

The girl named Rei closed her eyes and took a breath. "Then…do you also acknowledge that it's time to move on?" Strangely, she then raised her hands into a bow-and-arrow stance.

"Rei, what are you doing?! You can't be serious!" He heard the blonde cry out. He followed her gaze to the side of the ghost hunter and saw the arrow. The heart beating within his chest was racing. This was it, he realized. If he got hit with that thing then everything would end. He would never be able to see his friends or family ever again.

"Please stop!"

"Naru?!" Minako yelled. 'Naru' - so that was the girl's name.

"Ms. Osaka. I would suggest that you move out of the way." The ghost hunter said in a low voice. Naru shook her head. With her arms spread out, she stubbornly stood between the ghost hunter and the one who saved her life.

"Naru…What are you doing?" He asked her.

"You saved my life once. So it's my turn to save yours." She met Rei's angry gaze head on. "Even if it's not his body, if the original soul is already gone then why can't Masato keep living? He's done nothing wrong!"

"I've already told you once. The dead should remain dead. I won't say this again. _Move_."

Naru clenched her jaw.

"Naru, it's okay." Masato tried to tell her. "She's right. I don't belong here."

"Don't. You. _Dare_." The anger in the girl's voice made him freeze. Despite her bravado she was trembling from head to toe. "I might be selfish. And yeah, I do feel really guilty about what happened before. But more than anything, I just want to make things right. So… if you have to kill someone today, then kill me!"

"Rei, don't!"

_I'd be lying if I said that dying didn't scare me. But this isn't right. Not like this._

Masato grabbed Naru and shielded her with his back. "Thank you," he whispered into her ear. Clamping his eyes shut, he waited for the end to come. Only instead, the area was punctuated by the sound of sirens.

"The police? But how…?" The blonde girl asked. Her blue eyes suddenly lit up with realization. Masato and Naru slowly opened their eyes to see the same thing that she did. The blue-haired girl of the group had a cell phone in her hand.

_Was she the one who…?_

Masato whipped his head back to the ghost hunter. Her bangs were overshadowing her eyes. The raven-haired girl with the dark, intense eyes finally lowered her arms and the ominous shadow disappeared. He was surprised when she suddenly approached them. Suspicious, he pulled Naru close to him protectively.

"You understand what this means, don't you?" She asked the pair. In the distance the sound of sirens steadily grew louder. "Although the soul of that body is gone, I can't guarantee how long your soul will take to it. It could be several weeks or several years, no one can tell."

Did that mean she was going to let him go?

"I see. But even so-! That's fine. Because…this time, I'm going to cherish whatever time I have left."

Rei turned to Naru. "He's your responsibility from now on. I don't want to hear any problems from either of you in the future."

"Yes. Yes, of course! You won't! I promise!" Naru eagerly agreed. "Thank you!"

The woman signalled to her associates. Once he was sure that they were gone, Masato gave Naru a hug and they both cried with joy.

**Hino Paranormal Investigation Office – 3 days later**

* * *

'_As I understand it, after the police arrived Masato surrendered without incident. They took him back to the hospital and are now forcing him to get better before he's discharged. He doesn't seem to mind though. Naru's been visiting him every day to keep him from getting bored.' _Minako paused in her writing._ 'I really hope that everything works out for those two.' _

Minako saved the document and leaned back into her seat. She had to wonder: If Ami hadn't made that call when she did, would Rei really have gone through with it? Then again, she supposed if Rei had been really serious about it she could have gone after Masato anytime she wanted.

She printed off the report and walked over to her boss's office. The raven-haired girl peered up from her papers.

"You know…I'm really happy that you didn't go through with it."

Rei blinked. It took her a moment to realize what they were talking about. "Oh, that."

"Mhm."

"Well, it wasn't like we were on official business. Exorcising him would have just been extra work."

"Aww, why can't you just admit that you're a big softie at heart?" Rei scowled, but Minako simply brushed it off. "Well, that is what I like about you."

"W-Would you just go back to work already?!"

"Yeah, yeah."

Rei watched the blonde skip out of sight. Her angry expression was gone and replaced by a thoughtful one. "Rather than kindness," she said quietly to herself, "it was a favor to a friend."

Oblivious and in higher spirits than she had been in a long time, Minako walked over to the office cabinet and slipped her report into the 'active' folder.

**-Case Closed-**


End file.
